1 


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Sd^4^<p 


University  of  California, 

\''V  i.r  l'R(>M     ITIK    l.ir.KAKV    OF 

>\y-^         DR.     F  R  A  N  C  I  S     LI  E  \\  V.  R , 

f-r- - 


ibiaColl.^ro,  Xosv  York. 


TJIK   Oai-T   OF 


y,^   ^ICHAEL     REESE 

M.j^L?\V  Of\Sau  Francisco. 


1  rs  T  3  . 


^ 


DIVINE     AUTHORITY   AND    PERPETUAL    OBLIGATION 


THE   LORD'S    DAY, 

ASSERTED   IN 

SEVEN  SERMONS, 

DELIVERED  AT  THE  PARISH  CHURCH  OF  ST.  MARY, 
ISLINGTON, 

IN  THE  MONTHS  OF  JULY  AND  AUGUST,  1830. 


BY  DANIEL  WIL.SOIV,  M.  A. 

AUTHOB  OF   LECTURES   ON  THE   ETIDEKCE3   OF   CHRI3TIAITITY,    &.C. 


Sftxst  ^metfcati  3Etrftioti, 

WITH   A 

RECOMMENDATORY  PREFACE,  BY  REV.  L.  WOODS,  D.  D., 

Professor  in  the  Theol.  Sem.  Andover,  Ms. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED  BY  CROCK KR  &  BREWSTER, 

47,  Washine^ton  Street: 

NEW-YORK:-J.  LEAVITT, 

182,  Broadway. 


1831. 


BV  no 

wss 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-one,  by  Crocker  &.  Brews- 
ter, 


BMHO 


RECOMMENDATORY  LETTER 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE  PUBLISHERS. 


Gent. — This  volume  by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Wilson,  on  the  at- 
thority  and  obligation  of  the  Lord's  day,  I  have  just  received 
from  a  friend  in  England,  with  a  request  that  I  would  recom- 
mend the  publication  of  it  here,  should  it  appear  well  suited  to 
be  useful  in  addition  to  the  excellent  discussions  of  the  same  sub- 
ject by  Edwards,  Dwight,  Humphrey,  and  others  of  our  own 
country.  I  hand  it  to  you  as  the  publishers  of  some  other  invalu- 
able works  of  this  Author,  and  have  no  hesitation  in  expressing 
the  opinion  that  it  is  adapted  to  be  peculiarly  useful  in  this  coun- 
try. It  can  hardly  fail,  I  apprehend,  to  convince  and  satisfy  every 
candid  reader,  of  the  divine  authority  and  perpetual  obli- 
gation OF  THE  lord's  DAY.  The  arguments  and  practical  in- 
culcations of  which  it  consists,  all  rest  on  this  firm  foundation, 
instead  of  being  derived  from  considerations  of  mere  expediency. 
As  might  be  reasonably  expected,  therefore,  from  a  writer  of  such 
well  known  ability  and  piety,  this  work  is  in  all  respects  calcu- 
lated to  promote  a  scriptural  observance  of  the  Lord's  day,  and 
it  appears  to  me  singularly  happy  in  its  tendency  to  engage  the 
feelings  and  affections  of  the  reader  in  the  duties,  public  and  pri- 
vate, of  that  hallowed  period,  and  to  invest  it  and  all  its  services 
with  associations  in  the  highest  degree  appropriate  and  interest- 
ing. 


IV  RECOMMENDATORY    LETTER. 

Much  might  justly  be  said  in  commendation  of  the  plan  and 
style  of  this  volume.  A  glance  at  the  summary  of  its  contents 
will  at  once  show  such  a  selection  of  topics,  such  a  felicity  in  the 
statement  of  them,  and  in  their  order  and  connection;  and  such 
particularity  and  completeness,  as  cannot  but  afford  to  the  reader 
very  great  satisfaction;  and  in  the  perusal,  instead  of  a  cold,  ab- 
stract and  formal  manner  and  diction,  he  will  be  engaged  with  a 
style  and  manner  characterized  alike  by  scriptural  simplicity,  and 
by  the  fervency  and  earnestness  of  a  truly  Christian  spirit.  And 
it  is  to  be  noticed  and  commended  as  alike  rare  and  inestimable 
in  such  a  work,  that  the  author  having  exhibited  his  positions  in 
a  strong  light  and  sustained  them  by  suitable  arguments,  brings 
them,  with  all  the  sincerity  and  fervor  of  his  own  spirit,  to  bear 
on  the  conscience  and  heart.  Feeling  himself  a  solemn  convic- 
tion of  the  truths  he  inculcates,  and  a  lively  sensibility  to  their 
claims  upon  the  consciences  and  their  bearings  upon  the  charac- 
ters and  destinies  of  men,  he  cannot  proceed  with  his  reader  with- 
out bringing  him  continually  to  consider  these  claims  as  personal,, 
and  admonishing  and  exhorting  him  to  yield  to  them  an  imme- 
diate and  cordial  obedience.  To  succeed  in  argument,  and  con- 
vince the  understanding,  does  not  satisfy  him;  he  labors  to  gain 
the  will,  the  affections,  the  whole  inner  and  outer  man.  In  the 
spirit  of  true  friendship  he  takes  his  reader  along  with  him  as  an 
accountable  fellow-being  in  whom  he  has  an  interest,  and  to 
whom  it  is  at  once  his  office  and  happiness  to  do  good. 

This  characteristic  method  of  the  author  is  exhibitted  with 
great  advantage  in  his  other  works,  and  especially  in  his  admira- 
ble volumes  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity;  every  page  of 
which  requires  the  reader  to  feel  his  personal  interest  in  the  ques- 
tion at  issue. 

In  all  these  hortatory  and  persuasive  applications  of  his  subject, 
the  claims  of  Almighty  God  on  the  conscience  and  heart  of  man, 
are  ever  held  conspicuously  in  view,  in  connection  with  man's 
accountability,  and  all  the  essential  facts,  doctrines,  and  sanctions 
of  revelation.  In  this  respect  the  present  volume  is  not  only 
suited  to  readers  of  every  class,  but  worthy  to  be  held  a  model  to 
preachers  and  writers.  There  is  an  array  of  motives,  and  a  ful- 
ness and  faithfulness  in  it,  which  merit  imitation. 


M 


RECOMMENDATORY    LETTER.  V 

There  is  another  characteristic  of  this  work  which  I  may  be 
excused  for  mentioning,  namely,  the  Christian  spirit  which  per- 
vades it — the  humility— the  benevolence— the  reverence  of  the 
Supreme  Being  and  of  his  inspired  teachings  and  requirements— 
the  deep  sense  of  the  prevalence  and  evil  of  sin,  and  of  the  un- 
speakable blessings  of  salvation — the  manifestation  of  faith  and 
hope — the  harmonious  and  comprehensive  view  which  seems 
ever  present  to  the  author  of  all  the  objects,  doctrines,  duties, 
blessings  and  prospects  of  religion. 

The  present  work,  without  pretending  to  be  more  elaborate  or 
learned  on  every  point  than  some  of  the  treatises  now  extant  on 
the  same  or  parts  of  the  same  subject,  is,  I  think  more  comprehen- 
si  ve  than  any  of  them,  and  has  the  advantage  of  being  altogether 
of  a  more  popular  cast;  and  it  is  on  this  account  exceedingly  well 
suited  to  the  present  time.  There  is  at  this  moment  great  need 
ofsuchawork  in  this  country.  The  public  measures  adopted 
within  two  or  three  years  for  promoting  a  better  observance  of 
the  Lord's  day,  having  been  directed  too  exclusively  to  the  at- 
tainment of  civil  and  secular  aid,  instead  of  relying  on  the  appro- 
priate aids  and  sanctions  of  scriptural  instruction  and  example, 
have  failed  to  occasion  the  benefits  anticipated  by  their  zealous 
patrons;  and  the  attention  which  was  awakened  to  the  subject, 
has,  it  is  to  be  feared,  in  a  great  measure  disappeared.  There  is 
therefore  special  occasion  and  necessity  for  a  popular  work  like 
this,  full  of  warmth  and  earnestness,  establishing  in  a  satisfactory 
manner  every  position,  answering  and  obviating  objections  and 
difficulties  and  carrying  home  to  the  bosom  of  the  reader  the  prac- 
tical lessons  and  sanctions  of  the  subject. 

It  is  by  the  preaching  and  publication  of  sermons  and  essays 
like  these,  that  the  public  mind  is  to  be  enlightened  and  a  refor- 
mation promoted.  There  exists  a  lamentable  want  of  scriptural 
knowledge  and  conviction  on  this  subject.  Even  the  religious 
portion  of  the  community  have  too  generally  but  very  defective 
notions  and  convictions,  as  to  the  divine  authority  and  obligation 
of  this  hallowed  day;  and  its  observance  depends  too  much  on 
the  authority  of  custom  and  expediency,  and  too  little  on  the  re- 
quirements and  sanctions  of  revelation. 

A  few  passages  of  local  application,  in  the  admirable  pastoral 
address  of  the  author,  and  also  near  the  close  of  the  volume,  the 


VI  RECOMMENDATORY    LETTER. 

judicious  reader  will  readily  accommodate,  especially  in  the  latter 
case,  to  facts  and  circumstances  of  a  similar  nature  here. 

Most  earnestly  hoping  that  this  work  may  be  widely  diffused 
through  the  country,  and  have  all  the  influence  under  the  divine 
blessing,  which  it  is  so  well  calculated  to  exert, 

I  remain  yours  truly,    Eleazer  Lord. 
New  York,  May,  1S31. 


COJVTEJVTS. 


pKiFACE  to  the  American  Edition,  .  .  13 

Pastoral  Address,  .  .  .  .  .        21 

*     ,  SERMON    I. 

■^-  *- 

Genesis  ii.  1 — 3,  .  .  40 

THE  INSTITUTION  OF  A  WEEKLY  SABBATH  IN  FAR- 
ADISE,  AND  ITS  CONTINUED  AUTHORITY,  UNIIL 
THE  DELIVERY  OF  THE  MORAL  LAW. 

The  importance  of  the  subject,  .  .^        '*^'.         40 

The  plan  of  the  work  announced,  ...  43 

The  DIRECT  REASONS  for  believing-  tlie  Sabbath  to  have  been 

instituted  at  the  time  when  the  sacred  narrative  begins,         45 
The  JUST  INFERENCES  to  bc  drawn  from  them,      .  .         49 

Traces  of  the  observation  of  a  weekly  rest,  during"  the  pa- 
triarchal AGES,  .....  51 
The  KANNER  in  which  the  Sabbath  was  revived  before  the 

commencement  of  the  mosaical  economt,  .         56 

Observe  the  extreme  violence  which  is  done  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  by  the  attempt  to  explain  away  the  institution 
of  the  Christian  Sabbath  in  Paradise,  .  .  57 

Adore  and  praise  the  almighty  father  of  all,  for  the  dis- 
tinct GLORIES  shed  upon  the  day  of  religious  repose,  59 


i 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 


SERMON   II. 


Exodus  XX.  8—11,  .  .         61 

THE  AUTHORITY  AND   DIGNITY  OF  THE   SABBATH 
UNDER  THE  LAW  OF  MOSES. 

The  INSERTION  OF  THE  LAW  OF  THE  SABBATH  jntO  the  DEC- 
ALOGUE, ......  62 

The  Sabbath  appeared  high  and  distinct  above  all  the 

CEREMONIAL    USAGES,  ....  67 

The   Sabbath  was  insisted  upon   by  the  prophets,  as  op 

ESSENTIAL    MORAL    OBLIGATION,   and    aS  DESTINED    TO    FORM 

A    PART    OF    THE    GOSPEL    DISPENSATION,  .  .  72 

Let  US  give  to  the  holy  day  of  rest  that  prominency  in  our 
ESTEEM,  which  Moses  was  instructed  to  give  it  in  his  dis- 
pensation, .....  81 

Let  us  imbibe  the  spirit  of  love  and  delight  in  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  which  the  psalms  and  prophets  display,  82 

The  AWFUL  INDIGNATION  of  Almighty  God  against  the  con- 
tempt of  his  name  and  his  day,  .  .  .83 

Let  us  IMITATE  THE  HEROIC  ZEAL  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah, 
in  vindicating  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath,  .  84 

Let  us  dread  the  false  view  of  the  character  of  God,  and 
of  the  nature  of  Christianity,  which  are  associated  with 

i^  the  violation  of  the  Lord's  day,  .  .  .85 


t 


^  SERMON   in. 


'  Mark  ii.  27,  28.  .  .  86 

THE  SABBATH  VINDICATED,  UNDER  THE  GOSPEL 
FROM  PHARISAICAL  AUSTERITIES,  AND  SET 
FORTH  IN  MORE  THAN  ITS  ORIGINAL  DIGNITY 
AND  GLORY. 

The  recognition  of  the  ten  commandments,  and  of  the 
FOURTH  amongst  the  number,  which  our  Lord  and  his 
apostles  make,         .  ....  89 

Our  Lord  honored  the  Sabbath  on  all  occasions,  and 
never  violated  its  sanctity,  .  .  .  .92 

Nothing  is  abrogated  under  the  christian  dispensa- 
tion, WITH  respect  to  the  Sabbath,  but  those  tem- 
porary and  figurative  enactments,  which  constituted  the 
peculiarities  of  the  Jewish  age,  .  .  101 

The  DISTINGUISHING  PROMISE  of  the  New  Testament,  has 
for  its  object  to  render  the  duties  of  the  Sabbath 
more  delightful,  and  thus  increases  tenfold  their  obliga- 
tion, .  .....  104 


CONTENTS.        ,  IX  Iff 

Let  every  one  yield  to  these  accumulated  proofs,  .        109  ,-j 

Let  every  one  shun  the  ingratitude  of  making"  use   of 

the  compassion  of  our  Savior  to  the  tacit  disparagement 
,     of  the  Sabbath  itself,  .  .  .  .  110 

We  plead  for  the  christian  sabbath,  for  vt^hich  the    Holy 

Spirit  is  especially  given,       ....  Ill 


SERMON   IV. 

Revelations  i.  10.  .  .         113 

THE  SABBATH  TRANSFERRED  BY  DIVINE  AUTHOR- 
ITY, FROM  THE  SEVENTH  TO  THE  FIRST  DAY  OF 
THE  WEEK,  OR  LORD'S  DAY. 

The  preparatory  circumstances  which  lay  a  probable 
ground  for  the  change  of  the  day: 

1.  The  prominence  given  to  the  proportion  of  time,  both  at 
the  first  institution  in  Paradise,  and  in  the  wording  of  the 
fourth  commandment,  .  .  .  .  114 

2.  The  probability  that  the  computation  of  time  was  lost,  in 
the  bondage  of  Egypt,  ....         116 

3.  The  freedom  and  universality  of  the  gospel  dispensation,   117 

4.  The  word  of  prophecy,  .  .  .  .  119 

5.  A  complete  revolution  actually  took  place  in  the  whole 
state  of  the  church,  .....        120 

6.  The  claims  which  Christ  advanced  during  his  ministry, 

of  legislating  for  the  Sabbath,  as  its  Sovereign  and  Lord,     123 

The  MANNER  IN  WHICH  THE  CHANGE  OF  THE  SaBBATH 
FROM     THE     LAST     tO    the    FIRST     DAY    OF    THE    WEEK,   WaS 

gradually  introduced  by  the   divine    authority  of  our 
Lord  and  his  apostles,  ....  126 

1.  Our  Savior,  after  his  passion,  began  to  introduce  the  ac- 
tual change  tacitly  and  gently,  by  his  own  divine  conduct,  127 

2.  The  first  day  is  marked  by  the  gift  of  the  great  promise  of 
the  dispensation,  .....        129 

3.  The  doctrine  and  conduct  of  the  apostles  will  be  found  to 
bring  in  more  decidedly  the  new  day  of  the  Sabbath,  J30 

4.  The  events  of  God's  wonderful  providence  completed  the% 
change,  ?......  133 

5.  Ecclesiastical  historians  bear  witness  to  the   observation 

of  the  first  day,  .  .  .  .  .135 

6.  A  perpetual  blessing  has  attended,  and  now  attends,  the 
Christian  Sabbath,         .....  138 


Recapitulation  of  the  evidence  that  all  the  obligations 
that  can  combine  to  enforce  a  moral  command  upon  man 
unite  in  the  case  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,        .  .        138 


X  CONTENTS. 

Adore  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  in  providing  for 
man's  religious  repose  in  his  first  creation,  .  140 

The  CHANGES  in  the  circumstances  of  the  law  of  the  Sabbath, 
have  sprung  up  from  new  benefits  conferred  on  man,         141 

In  proportion  as  the  benefits  of  the  gospel  are  more  exalted, 
should  our  hearts  receive  the  intimations  of  the  divine 
WILL  WITH  more  ALACRITY,  and  fulfil  them  with  warmer 
delight,  ......        142 


i 


ERMON   V. 

Ezekiel  xx.  12.  .  .  144 

THE   PRACTICAL    DUTIES  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
SABBATH. 

Keep  ever  in  view  the  great  end  of  the  institution,  147 

The  EUBLic  Ai|D  PRIVATE  DUTIES  of  the  Sabbath,  151 

We  must  cany  the  true  spirit  op  the  Christiait  dis- 
pensation into  these  duties,  •  -  -  158 
We  must  glori^'^  God  for  those  mightt  blessings  which 
are  appointed    to  be    commemorated  on  the  lord's 

DAT,  ......  161 

The  conviction  which  such  a  discussion  should  fix  in  the 

minds  of  the  IRRELIGIOUS  and  unconverted,  164 

May  we  not,  all  of  us,  discover  topics  of  humiliation  in 
the  discussion.'' 


SERMON   VI. 

Isaiah  Iviii.  1, 2.  ,  .        168 

THE  UNSPEAKABLE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  RIGHT 
UPSERVATION  OF  THE  SABBATH  WITH  THE  EVILS 
OF  THE  OPPOSITE  ABUSE. 

The  observation  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  is  a  most  sacred 
COMPACT,  and  the  abuse  of  it  the  violation  of  that  com- 
pact, ......  170 

The  observation  of  the  Sabbath  bears  upon  man's  temporal 

AND    spiritual    WELFARE    AS     A     FALLEN    BUT     ACCOUNTA- 
BLE   CREATURE,  .....  172 

It  includes,  in  fact,  all  the  application  of  the  chris- 
tian  RELIGION   AND    ITS   PRESERVATION    IN   THE   WORLD,  175 

The  Lord's  day  connects  and  holds  together  all  the  links 

AND    OBLIGATIONS    OF    HUMAN    SOCIETV,  whicll  the  violatioH 

of  it  tends  to  destroy,        .  ...  180 

J? 


CONTENTS.  XI 

The  observation  of  the  Sabbath  honors  almighty  God,  and 

BRINGS    HIS    FAVOR   AND    BLESSINGS   Upon   a    peoplej    whllst 

the  profanation  of  it  provokes  his  highest  displeasure,  183 

The  EXCUSES  which  men  allege  in  extenuation  of  a  neglect 
of  the  day  of  God,        .....  185 

Let  us  ENTER  FULLY   AND    DETERMINATELY  On    the   leligioUS 

duty  of  honoring  God,  ....        187 


SERMON   VII.         ,  .  190 

Nehemiah  xiii.  17, 18. 

THE  GUILT  WHICH  IS  CONTRACTED  BY  CHRISTIAN 
NATIONS  IN  PROPORTION  AS  THE  LORD'S  DAY  IS 
OPENLY  PROFANED. 

The  CHARGE  OF  GUILT  against  the  British  nation  substan- 
tiated ......        191 

The    national  judgments  which  we    may   too   certainly 
dread,  ......  198 

The  PRACTICAL  MEASURES  which  each  one  may  adopt  to  pro- 
mote a  national  repentance  and  return  to  God,  .  201 


We  have  pleaded  for  the  Sabbath  because  it  is  a  means  to 

CERTAIN    ENDS,  .....  206 

Because  of  the  unspeakable  value  of  the  soul  of  man,  207 
Because  it  appeals  to  the  human  conscience,  .  208 

Because  it  is  an  indispensable  preparation  for  the  heav- 
enly BLESSEDNESS,  .....  209 


PREFACE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITIOIV, 


[Written  by  request  of  the  Publishers.] 

The  publication  of  the  following  Lectures  is  very 
seasonable  in  our  country  at  such  a  time  as  this, 
when  infidels,  and  even  some  who  profess  to  be 
Christians,  have  made  an  open  attack  upon  the  divine 
authority  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  and  used  their  influ- 
ence to  bring  it  into  disrepute,  and  when  the  community 
at  large,  and  even  the  better  part  of  it,  have  fallen  into 
a  criminal  neglect  and  abuse  of  this  divine  institution. 
The  subject  here  treated  is  indeed,  at  all  times,  of  vital 
consequence  to  the  Christian  rehgion.  For  whatever 
may  be  the  value  of  other  means  appointed  for  our 
spiritual  benefit,  they  would  have  but  little  real  efficacy, 
without  the  Sabbath.  Even  the  sacred  Scriptures, 
the  only  standard  of  our  faith  and  practice,  and  the  in- 
stitution of  the  gospel  ministry,  would  turn  to  but  small 
account,  should  we  give  up  "the  day  which  the  Lord 
hath  made,"  and  so  deprive  ourselves  of  any  regular 
and  divinely  appointed  season  for  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures in  private,  and  hearing  their  doctrines  and  pre- 
cepts explained  and  inculcated  in  public.  I  say  a  di- 
vinely appointed  season.  A  day  enjoined  by  the 
authority  of  God  is  manifestly  required  in  this  case; 
because  no  consideration  of  mere  expediency,  no  civil 
or  ecclesiastical  decree,  and  no  agreement  made  among 
2 


14  PREFACE. 

individual  Christians,  will  be  likely  to  bind  the  con- 
sciences or  to  regulate  the  actions  of  men.  Unless  the 
day  of  holy  rest  is  believed  to  be  set  apart  and  conse- 
crated by  God  himself,  the  current  of  worldly  business 
and  pleasure  will  at  length  sweep  it  away  even  from 
the  church;  so  that  the  real  and  ultimate  question  is, 
whether  there  shall  be  a  Sabbath  set  apart  by  divine 
authority,  or  no  Sabbath  at  all.  And  even  if  a  partic- 
ular day  should  be  voluntarily  observed  for  religious 
purposes  by  individuals,  or  by  a  Christian  community, 
without  the  belief  of  any  divine  command  enjoining  it; 
such  a  day  would  be  very  different,  and  its  influence 
upon  the  minds  even  of  good  men  would  be  very  dif- 
ferent, from  what  it  would  be,  if  it  were  regarded  as 
an  appointment  of  God.  The  same  principle  obtains 
here  as  in  regard  to  the  Scriptures.  If  we  consider  the 
Bible  as  a  mere  human  production,  though  containing 
the  true  principles  of  morality  and  religion;  it  will 
exert  but  an  inconsiderable  Influence  upon  us.  Its  doc- 
trines and  precepts  will  have  no  power  over  our  con- 
sciences. God  must  speak,  or  man  will  not  hear. 
God  must  command,  or  man  will  not  obey. 

We  shall  find  all  this  verified  in  the  history  of  Chris- 
tendom, and  particularly  in  the  history  of  our  own 
times.  Who  are  they  that  trample  on  the  Sabbath, 
and  make  it  subservient  to  their  worldly  pursuits?  Not 
merely  infidels;  but  the  generality  of  those  who  pro- 
fess to  respect  the  Sabbath,  but  do  not  regard  it  as  a 
divine  institution.  And  who  are  they  that  conscien- 
tiously and  faithfully  perform  its  sacred  duties,  and  se- 
cure its  inestimable  benefits?     Those  who  look  upon  it 


PREFACE.  15 

as  set  apart  for  holy  purposes  by  the  authority  of  God. 
A  proper  belief,  that  our  Creator  and  Sovereign  re- 
quires the  Sabbath  to  be  kept  holy,  silences  the  clam- 
ors of  the  world,  bars  out  vain  thoughts,  subdues  the 
passions,  diffuses  a  sacredness  through  all  the  hours  of 
the  day,  and  imparts  a  special  influence  to  divine  truth, 
whether  heard  in  the  sanctuary,  or  contemplated  in  the 
stillness  of  retirement.  Without  such  a  belief,  the  ben- 
efits naturally  resulting  from  this  divine  institution,  will 
not  be  obtained.  The  ministers  of  religion  and  civil 
rulers  may  unite  their  efforts  to  promote  the  observance 
of  a  day  which  is  made  sacred  only  by  human  author- 
ity; but  they  will  have  no  prospect  of  success.  The 
command,  to  "remember  the  Sabbath  day  and  keep  it 
holy,"  coming  from  man,  is  imbecile.  It  excites  no  cor- 
dial reverence.  It  produces  no  fear  of  transgression, 
except  so  far  as  outward,  visible  actions  are  concerned. 
No  one  will  stand  in  awe  of  a  command  which  is  laid 
upon  him  by  a  being  like  himself.  But  the  command 
to  keep  the  Sabbath  holy,  coming  from  the  Sovereign 
of  the  world,  is  clothed  with  power,  and  takes  hold  on 
the  conscience  and  heart.  Being  the  command  of 
Him  who  is  every  where  present,  and  whose  searching 
eye  is  ever  upon  us,  it  follows  us  into  all  our  secret 
ways,  and  has  the  same  authority  over  us  when  we  are 
removed  from  the  notice  of  man,  as  when  we  are 
placed  in  the  most  public  view.  It  is  a  motive  which 
touches  all  the  springs  of  action. 

It  is  therefore  with  good  reason,  that  the  Author  of 
the  following  discourses  takes  so  much  pains  to  prove 
that  the  Christian  Sabbath  is  to  be  regarded,  not  as 
founded  Qn  considerations  of  expediency,  but  as  a  di-- 


16  PREFACE. 

vine  institution.  His  arguments  are,  in  my  view,  en- 
tirely successful.  It  would  be  quite  aside  from  my' 
object  in  these  prefatory  remarks,  to  enter  on  a  par- 
ticular examination  of  the  reasoning  contained  in  these 
excellent  discourses,  and  to  say  whether  I  look  upon 
every  minor  consideration  here  advanced,  as  altogether 
pertinent  and  conclusive.  But  I  know  not  how  any 
candid  person  can  attentively  read  this  work  w^ithout  a 
full  conviction  of  the  strength  of  all  the  prominent  ar- 
guments, and  the  justness  of  the  conclusion. 

But  the  Author  does  not  content  himself  with  merely 
stating  arguments  in  support  of  the  Sabbath.  He 
abounds  in  the  most  serious  and  moving  appeals  to  the 
conscience  and  heart.  With  great  earnestness  he  urges 
the  high  claims  of  this  divine  institution  upon  the  Chris- 
tian community,  and  upon  every  individual.  He  repre- 
sents it  as  "a  sign  of  the  covenant  between  God  and  man; 
a  badge  of  our  Christian  profession;  the  acknowledge- 
ment we  publicl}'  make  of  the  God  who  created,  and  the 
Savior  who  redeemed  us;  a  chief  means  of  that  dedi- 
cation and  sanctification  of  man  to  his  Almighty  Lord, 
which  creation  and  redemption  are  designed  to  pro- 
duce." He  clearly  points  out  the  manner  in  which  the 
sacred  day  is  to  be  observed  under  the  gospel,  the  vast 
importance  of  observing  it,  and  the  evils  of  neglect, 
and  urges  the  necessity  of  personal  and  national  repen- 
tance for  the  violation  of  it.  He  every  where  speaks 
on  the  spbject,  as  one  who  is  deeply  impressed  with  its 
paramount  importance,  and  has  experienced  its  high 
spiritual  benefits.  There  is  a  simplicity  and  seriousness, 
a  fervor,  sincerity  and  devotedness  in  these  sermons, 
which  must  make  a  salutary  and  lasting  impression. 


PREFACE.  17 

While  I  have  been  reading  them,  as  well  as  the  Lectures 
of  the  same  author  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity, 
I  have  repeatedly  been  led  to  say;  Happy  the  man 
who  is  accustomed  to  cherish  thoughts  and  feelings  like 
these!  And  happy  the  people  who  are  blessed  with 
the  labors  of  such  a  minister  of  Christ!  *, 

While  perusing  these  discourses  I  have  been  pressed 
with  the  inquiry,  how  any  men,  who  wish  to  perpetuate 
the  blessings  of  our  civil  and  religious  institutions,  can 
overlook  the  importance  of  the  Sabbath.  When  we 
look  upon  South  America  and  Europe,  we  behold 
scenes  of  revolution,  strife,  carnage,  and  anarchy.  Vari- 
ous attempts  are  made  to  introduce  improvements  into 
the  forms  of  government  and  to  promote  quietness,  and 
harmony,  and  the  salutary  influence  of  law.  But  these 
attempts  are  not  successful.  Things  remain  in  the 
most  ominous  condition,  and  patriots  and  politicians 
know  not  what  to  do.  Their  wisdom  fails  them.  Now 
why  do  they  not  see,  that  the  cause  of  all  these  evils  lies 
in  the  destitution  of  moral  and  religious  principle  in  the 
mass  of  the  community?  The  experiment  which  has  so 
often  been  made,  may  be  a  thousand  times  repeated;  and 
the  result  will  be  the  same.  No  constitutions  of  govern- 
ment, however  wisely  framed;  no  improvement  of  the 
people  at  large  in  mere  literature  and  science;  no  les- 
sons derived  from  history  and  experience,  and  no  mo- 
iwes  addressed  to  personal  interest  or  safety,  can  hush 
the  cormnotions  which  agitate  the  nations;  because 
none  of  these  can  subdue  pride,  ambition,  and  selfish- 
ness, make  men  upright  and  benevolent,  and  engage 
them  in  those  employments  which  will  contribute  to 
2* 


18  PREFACE. 

individual  and  public  happiness.  Why  are  not  patriots 
and  legislators  sensible  of  this?  Why  do  they  not  see 
and  feel,  after  so  much  light  has  been  cast  on  the  sub- 
ject, that  the  only  effectual  means  of  removing  the  ca- 
lamities which  now  afflict  the  nations,  and  of  warding 
off  the  still  more  fearful  evils  which  threaten  them,  is, 
the  healthful  influence  of  moral  and  religious  prin- 
ciple, diffused  through  the  mass  of  society?  It  is 
evident,  that  the  same  character  which  qualifies  men  to 
be  happy  in  the  world  to  come,  will  qualify  them  to  be, 
in  the  highest  sense,  good  members  of  civil  society. 
And  if  civil  society  shall  be  chiefly  constituted  of  en- 
lightened and  good  men,  a  sure  foundation  will  be  laid 
for  permanent  peace  and  prosperity.  Now  without 
undervaluing  any  of  the  means  of  human  improvement, 
I  hold  it  to  be  an  obvious  and  certain  truth,  that  the 
chief  means  of  forming  men  to  a  good  character  is,  the 
due  observance  of  the  Christian  Sabbath;  and  that  with- 
out this,  all  other  means  will  fail.  If  this  benevolent 
institution  w^ere  rightly  observed,  the  evils  which  threat- 
en our  country  would  disappear.  The  remedy  Fpro- 
pose^  is  indeed  simple  and  easy;  but  it  is  sure.  And 
if  the  violence  of  ambition  and  party  zeal  and  the  pre- 
valence of  vice  and  disorder  should  so  increase,  as  to 
overturn  our  free  governments,  and  involve  us  in  all 
the  horrors  experienced  by  other  nations;  -J-am  bold  to 
predict,  that  iiot'ft  man,  no,  not  one  individual,  either 
among  the  rulers  or  the  people,  who  conscientiously 
and  faithfully  keeps  the  Christian  Sabbath,  will  be 
chargeable  with  helping  to  bring  these  dreadful  evils 
upon  the  land;  and  tktt  the  whole  guilt  will  lie  at  the 
door   of  those,  who  do   not  cordially  reverence  the 


PREFACE.  1 9 

Lord's  day,  and  do  not  faithfully  attend  upon  its  holy 
and  sanctifying  duties. 

As  to  those  gospel  ministers,  and  rulers,  and  private 
citizens,  who  keep  the  Sabbath  day  holy,  who  diligently 
engage  in  its  public  and  private  services,  and  who  use 
-their  influence  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  others  the 
high  obligations  of  this  divine  institution, — they  ought 
to  be  acknowledged  as  true  patriots;  and  they  are  en- 
titled to  the  warmest  gratitude  of  the  community  for 
the  substantial  contribution  they  make  to  the  public 
good.  While  on  the  other  hand,  every  man  who  neg-' 
lects  to  remember  the  Sabbath  day  and  keep  it  holy, 
shows  himself  an  enemy  to  the  best  interests  of  his 
country.  He  stands  guilty  of  casting  contempt  upon 
the  most  effectual  means  which  infinite  wisdom  has 
provided,  for  curing  the  madness  of  the  passions,  for 
checking  vice,  and  preparing  the  human  family  for  that 
quiet  and  pure  and  rational  enjoyment,  of  which  they 
are  capable. 

I  shall  only  add  a  few  words  on  the  means  most  ^o 
be  rehed  upon,  for  f^omoting  the  due  observance  of 
The  Sabbath.  Some  have  relied  upon  the  salutary 
influence  of  civil  laws  requiring  the  Sabbath  to  be  treat- 
ed with  respect,  and  forbidding,  under  severe  penalties, 
all  open  violations  of  it.  Butj  in  my  apprehension,  we 
have  no  reason  to  expect,  that  mere  civil  enactments 
will  ever  be  productive  of  any  extensive  and  perma- 
nent benefit  in  regard  to  this  subject,  except  merely  as 
they  afford  protection  to  Christians  in  worshipping  God 
according  to  their  own  consciences. 

The  experiment  has  been  often  tried  here,  and  in  other 
countries)  but  the  result  has  made  it  evident,  that  the 


20  PREFACE. 

great  interests  of  morality  and  religion  cannot  safely  be 
made  to  rest  on  the  power  of  civil  law.  The  due  ob- 
servance of  the  Sabbath  must  be  promoted  by  consid- 
erations addressed  to  man's  reason  and  conscience  and 
heart.  X'hese  sermon%-which  I  most  devoutly  wish  may 
be  ciretilated  and  read  through  the  United  States,  sug- 
gest the  only  method  of  enforcing  the  sanctification  of  the 
fSabbath,  which  seems  to  me  to  p-omise-any  real  success. 
Let  men  be  addressed  on  the  subject  from  the  pulpit,  and 
the  press:  and  let  them  be  addressed^as  this  autli0r*a*l- 
dresses  ihem^  with  sound  argument,  and  with  earnest  and 
affectionate  exhortation  and  entreaty;  let  them  be  address- 
ed as  rational  and  moral  and  accountable  beings,  whose 
everlasting  destiny  will  be  fixed  according  as  they  pro- 
fane the  Sabbath,  or  keep  it  holy.  Let  the  sacredness 
of  the  day  be  inculcated  upon  the  minds  of  children 
and  youth,  and  let  the  faithful  instructions  of  parents 
and  teachers  be  accompanied  and  enforced  by  a  good 
example;  and  let  all  who  reverence  the  Sabbath  lift  up 
their  fervent  supplications  to  him  who  is  the  Lord  of  the 
Sabbath,  that  he  would  graciously  interpose,  and  bring 
men  every  where  to  remember  and  love  the  day  of 
spiritual  rest: — let  these  and  other  congenial  methods 
be  pursued,  and,  with  the  divine  blessing,  it  will  ere 
long  be  seen  by  all  men,  that  the  objections  which  have 
been  made  against  tke  doctrine  of  these  discourses^ 
h^ve  sprung  from  depravity  or  ignorance;  that  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  sacred  day  is  the  source  of  immeasur- 
able good  to  the  w^orld,  and  is  one  of  the  highest  mani- 
festations of  divine  love. 

Leonard  Woods. 

Theological  Seminary, 

Andover,  Jljml,  1831. 


PASTORAL  ADDRESS* 


My  dear  Friends, 

Allow  me  to  offer  you  the  following  Discourses  as 
a  new  year's  token  of  my  sincere  regard  for  your  wel- 
fare. It  is  with  no  feigned  language  that  I  wish  you 
all  the  blessings  of  the  season  of  Christmas.  From  the 
bottom  of  my  heart  do  I  desire  and  pray,  that  the  Na- 
tivity of  our  Lord  may  be  the  source  of  joy  to  every  one  of 
you  all.  The  incarnation  and  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  foundation  of  the  Christian  religion;  and  I  trust 
it  is,  and  will  be,  the  main  object  of  my  life  and  labors 
amongst  you,  to  bring  you,  by  the  grace  and  blessing  of 
God,  to  a  practical  obedience  to  this  divine  Savior.  I 
seize  therefore,  with  eagerness,  every  fit  opportunity  of 
addressing  you  both  in  public,  and  by  the  more  familiar 
means  of  a  pastoral  letter.  If  I  had  health  and  time,  I 
should  rejoice  to  visit  you  more  than  I  do,  in  the  retire- 
ment of  your  families,  and  to  enlarge  that  personal  and 
friendly  acquaintance,  which  an  experience  of  your  kind- 
ness for  nearly  seven  years,  has  encouraged  me  to  im- 
prove. But  I  must  resign  myself  to  the  will  of  my  heav- 
enly Master,  who  gives  strength  and  opportunity  to  his 
servants  as  he  deems  meet.  It  is  a  consolation  to  me  to 
reflect,  that  my  labors  are  now  divided  amongst  so  many 
able    and  devoted  clergymen,  who  delight  to  minister   to 

*  A  few  things  in  the  Address  not  so  particularly  suited  to  the  circum- 
stances of  America  are  omitted;  also  a  few  words  and  phrases  and 
Bome  of  the  minor  notes  in  tlie  sermons. 


22  PASTORAL    ADDRESS. 

you  in  the  gospel.  And  I  desire  to  be  grateful  for  that 
measure  of  health,  which  enables  me  in  general  to  take 
a  share  in  the  public  duties  of  the  church,  and  to  devote 
mjself  still  in  various  ways  to  your  service. 

The  subject  to  which  I  now  would  request  your  atten- 
tion is,  as  you  are  aware,  the  divine  origin  and  perpetual 
obligation  of  the  Lord's  day — a  topic  so  important  in  itself, 
and  standing  connected  so  intimately  with  the  application 
of  all  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  Christianity,  to  our- 
selves and  our  families,  that  I  trust  you  will  permit  me, 
after  I  have  explained  the  occasion  and  plan  of  the  work, 
to  suggest  some  thoughts  on  the  authority  of  revealed 
TRUTH,  as  involved  in  it. 

The  substance  of  these  sermons  was  delivered  in  the 
autumn  of  1827.  A  new  and  more  favorable  occasion  of 
treating  the  question  occurred  last  spring.  The  Lord 
Bishop  of  London  addressed  a  most  able  and  impressive 
letter  on  the  neglect  of  the  Lord's  day,  to  the  clergy  and 
inhabitants  of  the  diocese.  Public  attention  was  in- 
stantly awakened.  I  lost  no  time  in  bringing  this  com- 
munication before  you.  The  authority  of  the  divine  in- 
stitution was  urged,  as  you  will  remember,  on  the  same 
Sunday,  from  all  our  pulpits;  and  you  speedily  formed  an 
association  for  the  better  observance  of  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath. The  rules  and  regulations,  after  having  received 
the  Lord  Bishop's  approval,  were  signed  by  nearly  four 
hundred  of  the  most  respectable  inhabitant  housekeepers; 
and  the  committee  and  officers  are  now  carrying  into  effect, 
in  every  kind  and  prudent  method,  consistent  with  the  laws 
of  our  country,  the  great  design.  Encouraged  by  the  pros- 
pect of  these  effective  measures,  I  was  induced  to  examine 
the  whole  subject  more  thoroughly  than  I  had  previously 
done.  It  grew  upon  my  mind.  I  discerned  more  and  more 
its  immense  importance,  if  we  would  honor  God,  preserve 
religion  in  the  world,  or  save  our  own  souls,  and  those  of 
our  family  and  neighborhood.  I  discovered  also,  as  I 
thought,  the  sources  of  the  more  current  objections;  and  at 
the  same  time  their  fallacy,  when  once  the  whole  bearing 
of  the  argument  from  Scripture  was  understood.  Thus  I 
was  led  on  to  treat  the  question  in  detail.  I  delivered  seven 
discourses  in  the  months  of  last  July  and  August.  I  was 
then  so  earnestly  entreated  to  commit  them  to  the  press,  that 


PASTORAL    ADDRESS.  23 

I  have  given  almost  all  my  retired  time  to  this  duty  since. 
I  have  consulted  our  chief  writers;  have  weighed  again  and 
again  the  difficulties  which  are  alleged:  and  I  hope  I  have 
succeeded  in  showing  that,  from  the  creation  of  man  through 
all  succeeding  periods,  one  day  in  seven  was  appointed  by 
Almighty  God,  as  the  season  of  special  religious  repose, 
and  of  public  and  private  worship.  I  hope  I  have  succeeded 
in  showing  that  this  appointment  is  essentially  moral  and 
immutable  in  its  obligation,  though,  from  the  nature  of  the 
case,  with  so  much  of  a  positive  character,  as  the  deter- 
mining of  the  exact  proportion  of  time  demanded.  I  hope 
I  have  succeeded  in  showing,  that  our  Lord  never  relaxed, 
nor  meant  to  relax,  the  law  of  creation  or  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, but  only  to  vindicate  it  from  the  false  comments 
of  the  Jewish  doctors,  and  leave  it  in  more  than  its  origi- 
nal dignity  and  force.  I  hope  I  have  succeeded  in  show- 
ing, that  the  day  of  the  observation  of  the  Sabbath,  under 
the  gospel,  was  authoritatively  changed  by  our  Lord  and  his 
apostles,  to  honor  the  resurrection;  and  was  in  entire  con- 
sistence with  the  original  bearing  of  the  institution,  and 
the  subsequent  manifestation  of  the  divine  will  concerning 
it. 

I  was  for  some  time  doubtful,  whether  the  argumentative 
air  of  the  first  four  sermons,  in  which  these  points  are  es- 
tablished, was  likely  to  be  generally  useful  to  you.  I 
thought  that  perhaps  the  objections  had  not  spread  far  in 
our  neighborhood;  and  that  the  devout  inculcation  of  the  prac- 
tical duties  of  the  Lord's  day  was  the  safer  course.  And  in- 
deed, in  general,  this  is  our  best  wisdom:  not  one  in  a  thousand 
of  our  population  ever  heard  of  Paley's  objections.  Cre- 
ation— the  fourth  commandment — the  exhortation  of  the 
prophets — the  custom  and  doctrine  of  our  Savior  and  his 
apostles — the  practice  of  the  whole  Christian  church — their 
own  sense  of  gratitude  for  the  spiritual  blessings  conveyed — 
theiobvious  state  and  wants  of  man — the  prospect  of  an  eternal 
Sabbath  in  heaven, — are  plain,  common-sense  arguments 
to  every  pious  mind;  or  rather,  matters  of  fact,  which  no 
plausible  theories  can  overthrow. 

But  on  further  reflection,  I  conceived  that  a  discussion 
of  the  main  objections  might  not  be  unimportant  to  you. 
We  live  in  a  reading  age:  we  adjoin  an  immense  metrop- 
olis.    The  temper  of  the  times  inclines  rather  to  intellect- 


24  PASTORAL    ADDRESS.' 

ual  pride,  than  to  the  sober  exercise  of  the  understanding 
in  the  obedience  of  faith.  Men  catch  at  any  thing  to  es- 
cape from  the  sacred  obligations  of  a  day  devoted  to  spirit- 
ual religion,  and  the  care  of  the  soul.  The  name  of  Paley, 
and  his  just  reputation  in  matters  of  his  own  province,  is 
seized  with  avidity.  Some  late  pamphlets  have  detailed 
his  statements  with  unwonted  levity,  and  yet  confidence  of 
manner.  The  deplorable  ignorance  of  theology  manifest 
in  these  publications,  to  all  who  are  versed  in  the  inspired 
Scriptures,  and  who  submit  really  to  their  authority,  forms 
no  hindrance  to  the  diffusion  of  the  poison  amongst  the 
young  and  uninformed.  The  youth  in  our  universities,  our 
tutors,  our  junior  clergy,  are  not  altogether  free  from  the 
contagion.  Open  infidelity,  semi-scepticism,  profaneness, 
worldly-mindedness,  unconcern  for  the  soul,  and  a  readiness  to 
follow  what  is  new  and  daring,  all  lean  the  same  way.  It 
seemed  to  me,  therefore,  to  be  the  duty  of  those  who  ad- 
hered to  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  and  the  universal  faith 
of  the  church,  to  come  forward  and  enter  their  protest 
against  the  gigantic  evil.  This  I  have  endeavored  to  do. 
I  have  interwoven,  however,  with  the  argumentative  ser- 
mons, practical  exhortations;  and  I  have  treated,  in  the 
last  three  discourses,  the  specific  duties  of  the  Christian 
Sabbath  at  length. 

With  regard  to  the  authors  to  whom  I  have  been  in- 
debted for  aid,  you  will  find  most  of  them  referred  to,  as  I 
have  had  occasion  to  cite  their  authority.  But  the  fact  is, 
that  the  whole  church  of  Christ,  in  the  proper  sense  of 
that  term,  has  maintained  this  fundamental  point,  in  every 
age.  Subordinate  matters  have,  of  course,  been  dispu- 
ted: but  the  commanding  truth  of  a  day  of  religious  exer- 
cise and  holy  rest,  after  six  days'  work,  has  through  all 
the  periods  of  our  ecclesiastical  annals,  been  acknowledged 
as  of  divine  obligation. 

Perhaps,  the  best  single  sermons,  in  a  practical  point  of 
view,  are  those  of  Dean  Milner,  Archdeacon  Pott,  and  Dr. 
Chalmers — the  last  is  in  the  most  powerful  and  awakening 
manner  of  its  author,  and  of  itself  settles  the  question. 
Some  essays  of  the  late  Mr.  Hey  of  Leeds,  seem  to  me 
the  clearest  upon  the  controversy — he  confutes  Paley  in  a 
masterly  and  conclusive  style.  The  most  elaborate  work 
on  the  whole  argument,  as  handled  in  his  day,  is  perhaps, 


PASTORAL    ADDRESS.  25 

The  Exercitations  of  Owen.  The  change  from  the  last  to 
the  first  day  of  the  week  is  thoroughly  defended,  in  his 
lucid  and  convincing  way,  by  J.  Edwards — to  whom  J. 
Mede's  sermon  should,  by  all  means,  be  adjoined.  Bishop 
Andrews  on  the  fourth  commandment,  is  an  incomparable 
discussion — full  of  learning,  the  soundest  judgment,  and 
rich  knowledge  of  the  materials  of  his  argument.  Mr. 
Holden  has,  in  a  recent  work,  arranged  most  of  the  rea- 
sonings and  conclusions  of  preceding  writers.  He  gives 
a  list  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty.  He  has  furnished  a 
valuable  compendium.  The  chief  authors  of  any  popular- 
ity, that  have  fallen  in  my  way,  who  impugn  the  divine 
authority  of  the  Lord's  day,  are  Bishop  J.  Taylor, — whose 
mistakes  are  not  confined  to  this  topic,  mighty  and  various 
as  were  his  powers,  and  sound  in  many  views  his  theology 
— and  Dr.  Ogden  and  Dr.  Paley,  whose  names  will  not 
weigh  greatly  with  those  who  are  acquainted  with  many 
other  of  their  opinions.  The  primary  error  of  supposing 
the  narrative  in  Genesis,  to  be  by  prolepsis  or  anticipation, 
is  maintained  by  Archbishop  Bramhall — who,  in  part,  re- 
deems the  fault,  by  a  bold  and  uncompromising  defence  of 
the  divine  authority  of  the  Christian  Sabbath.  Baxter 
confines  himself  to  the  argument  from  the  example  of  our 
Lord  and  the  inspired  authority  of  the  apostles,  which  he 
enforces  in  one  of  his  very  best  treatises — omitting,  but  in 
no  way  questioning,  the  proofs  from  the  Old  Testament. 
The  judicious  Hooker,  Bishop  Hall,  Archbishops  Usher 
and  Sharpe,  Bishops  Stiilingfleet  and  Pearson,  Archbishop 
Seeker  and  others,  defend  the  generally  received  doctrine, 
in  their  own  profound  and  impressive  manner,  though  some 
of  them  treat  it  only  incidentally.  The  learned  Horsley 
has  three  noble  sermons  on  the  subject,  in  which  he  power- 
fully maintains  the  same  view.  I  think  he  errs  in  consid- 
ering the  Sabbath  an  appointment  more  of  a  positive  than 
moral  character.  Indeed,  if  I  am  not  deceived  in  my  judg- 
ment, thi^  error  pervades  almost  all  our  writers,  to  the 
treatises  of  J.  Edwards,  and  Hey.  They  too  much  con- 
cede, that  the  fourth  commandment  is  of  a  positive  nature. 
That  there  is,  as  I  have  said,  something  positive  in  it,  may 
be  granted — from  the  nature  of  the  case  it  could  not  well 
be  otherwise — but  the  positive  part  is  as  little  as  possible— 
solittle,  that  the  grand  duty  of  devoting  some  portion  of 
3 


26  PASTORAL    ADDRESS. 

time  to  the  immediate  service  of  God  is  its  main  purport 
— the  commandment  is  moral  per  se — arises  from  the  fit- 
ness of  things,  and  rests,  like  the  other  precepts,  on  the 
primary  relation  in  which  man  stands  to  his  Creator.  The 
opinion  of  the  reformers  is  uniformly  in  favor  of  the  di- 
vine obligation  of  the  Lord's  day — Cranmer,  Latimer, 
Luther,  Melancthon,  Calvin,  Beza,  maintain  it  with  one 
voice,  though  sometimes,  especially  at  the  early  period  of 
the  reformation,  they  support  certain  festival  days  in  com- 
mon with  it. 

To  refer  to  the  authors  where  references  to  the  question, 
or  brief  discussions  occur,  would  be  endless.  Lightfoot, 
Watts,  Doddridge,  Walker  of  Truro,  Scott,  and  most 
practical  writers,  have  something  valuable.  I  have  found 
interesting  papers  in  the  8th  volume  of  the  British  Review, 
in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  and  the  Eclectic  Review 
of  the  last  year.  The  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor  has 
also  recently  published  an  excellent  pamphlet  on  the  subject, 
chiefly  in  refutation  of  the  idea  of  an  anticipated  narrative, 
which  he  has  treated  with  more  force  of  argument  than 
Hey  or  Dr.  Dwight.  This  last  name  deserves  especial 
notice — Dr.  Dwight,  as  well  as  his  illustrious  countryman, 
Edwards,  has  honored  the  American  School  of  Theology 
— rapidly  rising  into  importance — with  a  most  convincing 
and  able  discussion  of  the  question  in  all  its  branches, 
both  theoretical  and  practical — this  perhaps  forms  the  best 
of  our  modern  treatises;  though  it  would  be  unjust  to  Dr. 
Humphrey  of  Amherst  College,  to  withhold  a  tribute  of 
applause  from  his  excellent  Essays.  I  spare  a  direct  refer- 
ence to  one  or  two  publications  in  our  own  country  of  a  late 
date,  because  I  trust  maturer  reflection  will  lead  the  wri- 
ters to  withdraw  statements  which  are  alike  insulting  to 
revelation  and  injurious  to  the  youthful  student. 

But  I  will  not  proceed.  I  have  said  so  much,  to  show 
you  that  I  have  not  been  inattentive  to  the  opinions  of 
others — and  likewise  to  suo^sfest  a  course  of  reading;  to 
any  of  you  who  may  have  time  for  such  an  inquiry.  The 
points  upon  which  I  hope  I  may  have  thrown  new  light, 
are  the  direct  moral  character  of  the  fourth  commandment 
— the  importance  and  dignity  given  to  the  Sabbath  even 
during  the  vigor  of  the  Mosaic  economy — the  real  bearing 
of  our  Lord's  conduct  and  doctrine — and  the  way  in  which 


PASTORAL    ADDRESS.  27 

the  change  of  the  day  was  introduced  by  Christ  and  his 
apostles.  These  are  not,  however,  essential  to  the  main 
argument — whether  I  am  right  or  wrong  in  my  particular 
suggestions,  the  glory  and  obligation  of  the  day  of  God  re- 
main the  same. 

And  this  leads  me  to  notice  the  authority  of  revealed 
truth  as  connected  with  this  subject,  and  forming  its  only 
true  support.  For  it  is  on  this  footing  I  place  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Lord's  day — it  is  a  part  of  God's  merciful 
revelation  of  his  will  to  man.  I  am  assured  that  you 
will  agree  with  me  that  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  the  measures 
pursued  in  our  several  parishes,  we  can  have  no  hope  of 
success,  unless  we  place  the  duty  on  its  only  firm  footing, 
the  express  command  of  Almighty  God.  Expediency  may 
obtain  a  decent  compliance  with  custom,  but  will  never  sub- 
ject the  affections.  Expediency  may  carry  a  man  once  to 
church,  but  it  will  not  carry  him  there  twice,  it  will  not 
regulate  his  family  duties,  it  will  not  suppress  the  Sunday 
recreations,  the  Sunday  News-papers,  the  Sunday  parties, 
the  Sunday  dinners,  the  Sunday  journies,  the  general  Sun- 
day secularities.  Expediency  may  conceal  or  control  some 
outward  enormities,  it  cannot  implant  principles  of  relig- 
ion, it  cannot  inspire  love  to  God,  it  cannot  check  weari- 
ness and  inattention,  it  cannot  animate  to  prayer,  it  can- 
not change  the  human  heart. 

To  do  this  we  must  invoke  the  power  of  the  supreme  Po- 
tentate, and  all  those  aids  and  operations  of  grace  which 
he  has  promised  as  the  accompaniments  of  his,  own  truth. 
That  is,  we  must  ascend  from  human  to  divine  agency. 
And  here  we  see  the  importance  of  admitting  duly  the  au- 
thority OF  REVEALED  TRUTH.  Let  me  pausc  and  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  occasion  to  urge  on  you  this  great  topic 
generally,  and  not  merely  as  it  refers  to  the  point  be- 
fore us. 

The  authority  of  religious  truth,  as  revealed  in  the  Bible, 
rests  on  the  infinite  perfections  of  God  who  communicates 
it,  on  the  relations  in  which  man,  his  accountable  and  fal- 
len creature,  stands  to  him,  and  on  the  implicit  obedience 
which  his  Creator  and  Judge  demands.  Revealed  truth 
comprehends  every  thing  needful  for  us  to  know  in  order  to 
glorify  God  and  attain  salvation — it  is  inspired  and  dictat- 
ed by  the  Holy  Spirit — it  is  the  remedy  for  the  disorders 


28  PASTORAL    ADDRESS. 

of  a  ruined  world — it  is  a  system  of  infinite  grace,  in  the 
person  and  incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ  offering  himself  a 
sacrifice  for  sins,  and  in  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the 
source  of  life  and  holiness — it  is  a  scheme  of  redemption 
formed  "before  the  ages,"  and  gradually  developed  in  suc- 
cessive dispensations,  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of 
God. 

Revealed  truth  therefore  is  not  so  much  many  doctrines, 
as  ONE  STUPENDOUS  DOCTRINE  OR  FACT,  branching  off 
into  various  parts.  It  is  identical,  indivisible,  immutable, 
eternal — and  has  been  acknowledged  in  all  its  essential 
characters  by  the  whole  spiritual  church.  Like  the  vari- 
ous prismatic  colors,  though  divided  off  into  its  several  rays, 
it  yet  constitutes  one  splendid,  pure,  and  unmixed  efful- 
gence. Receive  this  divine  truth  on  the  authority  of  God 
and  by  the  grace  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  and  it  works  as  the 
sovereign  remedy  of  human  woe.  It  illuminates,  sanctifies, 
consoles,  blesses  the  heart.  It  unites  to  Christ  and  to 
God  in  and  through  him,  by  the  communion  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  But  if  it  be  taken  only  upon  the  authority  of  man, 
it  is  weak,  disjointed,  incomplete,  inefficient. 

View  this  grand  discovery  in  its  different  branches,  and 
you  will  see  how  they  constitute  only  one  doctrine,  founded 
on  one  stupendous  fact. 

The  fall  and  condemnation  of  man,  his  accountableness, 
his  impotency  to  any  thing  spiritually  good,  the  deep,  and, 
in  a  proper  sense,  total  corruption  of  his  nature,  the  misery 
and  blindness,  the  disorder  and  enmity  of  the  world,  the 
propensity  of  the  human  heart  to  flesh,  and  self,  and  earth- 
ly pursuits,  and  its  inability  to  recover  itself  to  God  and 
holiness — this  is  one  part  of  essential  truth — this  is  the 
case  which  redemption  has  to  meet. 

The  person,  glory,  incarnation,  sufferings  and  propitia- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God;  his  supreme  divinity,  pardon  and 
justification  by  faith  only,  in  his  obedience  unto  death;  ac- 
ceptance and  adoption  through  him;  his  mediatorial  king- 
dom; his  intercession  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father; 
union  with  him  as  the  head  of  his  church;  love  to  him, 
gratitude,  dependance,  endeavors  to  honor  him  and  imitate 
his  example — ^these  are  another  division — the  centre  of  re- 
ligious truth,  that  on  which  all  redemption  rests— salvatioa 
itself. 


PASTORAL    ADDRESS.  29 

The  personality  and  proper  deity  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
in  the  awful  and  mysterious  union  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son — his  operations  in  the  human  heart — regeneration  and 
conversion  by  his  grace-— sanctification  in  and  through  him 
as  the  author  and  giver  of  spiritual  life — his  offices  as  the 
Comforter,  Teacher,  Guide,  Conductor  of  the  church — 
this  is  another  branch  of  the  same  series. 

The  Christian  morals — obedience  to  God — the  ten  com- 
mandments, the  rule  of  conduct — prayer — the  church  of 
Christ — the  sacraments — and  the  ministry  of  the  word — 
communion  with  God — a  life  of  penitence,  mortification  of 
sin,  watchfulness,  growth  in  grace — support  and  consola- 
tion under  the  trials  and  afflictions  of  this  life — the  ascrip- 
tion of  every  thing  effective  in  our  salvation  to  the  merciful 
will  of  God,  and  a  humble  dependance  upon  him  to  accom- 
plish his  work  in  our  final  redemption — these  conclude  the 
sketch  of  the  scheme  of  revelation — these  are  the  conse- 
quences and  fruits  of  justification.  All  these  truths  are 
one — one  remedy — one  declaration  of  the  infinite  mercy  of 
God — one  scheme  of  salvation  provided  for  man. 

In  connection  with  this  revealed  truth,  and  the  platform, 
as  it  were,  on  which  the  machinery  is  erected,  is  the  Holy 
Sabbath— coeval  with  man— the  example  of  the  Almighty  pro- 
posing it  to  him — creation  so  distributed  as  to  lay  a  founda- 
tion for  it — the  powers  and  faculties  of  rational  and  irrational 
creatures  formed  upon  the  supposition  of  it — the  propor- 
tion of  one  day's  rest  to  six  of  labor  infixed  in  the  order  of 
this  beautiful  world  by  the  Almighty  artificer — this  institu- 
tion goes  along  with  redemption — marks  the  season  of  re- 
ligious worship,  affords  the  leisure,  sets  to  work  the  minis- 
trations, collects  all  the  materials  for  the  diffusion  of  this 
truth  and  the  celebration  of  the  praises  of  its  author — 
maintains  the  front  and  bearing  of  religion  in  the  world — 
is  the  visible  representation  of  Christianity,  and  the  pledge 
of  its  heavenly  reward. 

Such  is  truth — such  it  has  been  held  in  every  age — such 
it  was  held  substantially  and  in  a  darker  form  from  the 
period  of  the  fall — such  it  was  held  by  the  martyrs  and 
reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century — such  it  will  be  held  to 
the  consummation  of  all  things. 

What  then,  my  dear  friends,  is  the  authority  of  truth 
— of  such  truth — of  truth  so  new,  so  harmonious,  so  sublime, 
3* 


30  PASTORAL    ADDRESS. 

SO  important — what  its  claims  upon  the  conscience? 
Is  it  to  derive  its  force  from  secondary  considerations? 
Is  it  to  borrow  its  strength  from  human  expediency?  Doubt- 
less the  highest  measures  of  expediency  are  found  to  attend 
our  obedience  to  this  revelation:  and  we  fail  not  to  urge  in 
a  subordinate  view  this  motive.  We  tell  men  that  Chris- 
tianity has  ^'the  promise  of  the  life  which  now  is,  and  of 
that  which  is  to  come."  But  then  we  place  not  truth  on 
this  footing.  We  build  nothing  on  the  shifting  foundation 
of  expediency,  where  the  corrupt  passions  of  men  are  the 
casuists,  and  the  corrupt  example  of  the  world  the  judge. 
We  appeal  to  the  consciences  of  men  upon  the  sure  and 
immoveable  authority  of  the  Eternal  God.  We  cite  the 
inspired  word.  Then  we  have  a  blessing;  then  God  hon- 
ors his  own- truth;  then  the  Holy  Spirit  vouchsafes  effec- 
tive grace;  then  the  human  heart  responds  to  the  call;  then 
the  gospel  brings  forgiveness,  peace,  holiness,  joy,  salvation; 
then  it  becomes  the  instrument  of  conveying  all  the  bless- 
ings of  redemption  to  man.  Its  efficacy  is  derived  from 
God  its  author;  the  Bible  is  the  inspired  record  where  He 
has  placed  it;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  the  blessed  source  of 
grace  which  he  opens  to  the  heart.  And  thus  the  doctrine 
of  the  Sabbath,  in  common  with  all  the  essential  branches 
of  truth  with  which  God  has  connected  it,  becomes  a  spring 
of  salvation  to  man.  There  is  no  revealed  truth  without  a 
Sabbath  for  the  meditation  of  it;  and  there  is  no  Sabbath 
without  the  authority  and  command  of  God  for  its  obser- 
vance. 

And  do  not  imagine,  my  dear  parishioners,  that  because 
revealed  truth  has  been  controverted,  it  is  less  binding  upon 
the  conscience.  W^e  clear  it  from  misrepresentation — we 
answer  objections — we  silence  vain  reasonings — truth 
shines  conspicuous  through  the  intervening  cloud,  on  every 
eye  which  is  not  wilfully  closed  to  its  beams.  If  we  can- 
not remove  every  obscurity,  its  main  features  are  distinct 
and  refulgent  still.  There  is  enough  of  what  is  perspicu- 
ous in  the  Bible  on  all  capital  points,  to  outweigh  difficul- 
ties on  attendant  questions. 

The  deity  of  Christ  has  been  controverted,  I  admit — the 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  has  been  controverted — the 
personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  regeneration,  the  nature  of 
the  spiritual  life,  the  influence  of  the  love  of  Christ,  the  fir- 


PASTORAL    ADDRESS.  31 

tue  of  the  sacraments,  the  blessed  joys  of  communion  with 
God,  the  hope  of  everlasting  life — every  thing  has  been  con- 
troverted— even  the  truth  of  Christianity  itself — and  there- 
fore the  obligation  of  the  Lord's  day — has  been  controvert- 
ed. But  what  then?  Is  truth  less  certain — less  obligatory 
upon  man?  Ask  only  two  questions.  In  what  sense,  and  By 
whom  has  it  been  controverted,  and  all  difficulty  is  removed. 

For  IN  WHAT  SENSE  have  these  points  been  controverted? 
This  divides  off  one  half  of  the  disputants.  As  to  subordi- 
nate details,  there  is  a  wide  field  for  variety  of  judgment. 
And  it  is  in  these  respects,  and  no  other,  that  truth  has 
been  disputed  by  real  Christians.  The  order  of  the  di- 
vine purposes — the  union  of  man's  responsibility  and  free 
agency  with  the  operations  of  grace — the  entrance  and 
permission  of  moral  evil — the  mystery  of  the  divine  subsis- 
tencies  in  the  tri-unity  of  the  Godhead — the  narrow  limits 
of  the  actual  benefits  of  Christianity — the  small  apparent 
number  of  the  elect — the  apostacies  of  the  east  and  the 
west — the  condition  of  the  heathen  world — the  disorders 
and  scandals  of  the  visible  church — these  and  similar  top- 
ics have  ever  been  matters  of  dispute.  But  what  is  all 
this?  It  does  not  affect  any  one  of  the  substantial  verities 
of  revelation.  It  is  only  saying  that  man  is  ignorant — 
that  God  has  given  us  a  revelation  not  complete  in  itself, 
but  complete  for  the  purposes  he  had  in  view — that  this 
world  is  a  probationary  state — that  an  eternal  judgment 
will  rectify  the  temporary  irregularities  of  the  divine  pro- 
ceedings here — that  truth  is  so  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  as 
to  be  a  trial  of  our  submission  of  heart  to  God — that  all 
is  clear  as  to  practice  and  our  application  of  it,  though 
much  is  obscure  as  to  theory  and  the  supposed  combination 
of  things  in  the  divine  mind. 

To  keep,  indeed,  upon  broad  and  acknowledged  ground, 
is  the  dictate  of  wisdom,  and  the  just  inference  from  the 
perplexities  of  dispute.  It  is  when  we  refine,  that  we  dif- 
fer. And  this  the  Bible  never  does.  There  is  nothing  ab- 
stract, nothing  little,  nothing  rigid  and  systematic,  nothing 
recondite  and  metaphysical  in  the  Scriptures.  Truth  meets 
us  there  in  her  simple  majesty — enjoins  on  us  implicit  obe- 
dience— and  promises  peace  and  joy.  And  thus  it  is  that 
the  humblest  Christian  has  most  tranquillity  of  heart.  Truth 
is  the  medicine  of  his  soul;  he  feels,  as  he  receives  the  doc- 


32  PASTORAL    ADDRESS. 

trines  of  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  that  he  has  found  "the  hid- 
den treasure,"  that  he  has  obtained  the  "pearl  of  great 
price,"  that  he  has  discovered  the  source  of  life  and  felicity, 
that  he  has  reached  the  true  end  of  his  being. 

But  when  controversies  relate  to  fundamental  truth,  then, 
I  ask,  BY  WHOM  are  they  raised?  This  is  the  second  ques- 
tion. Is  it  not  by  the  heretic  bringing  into  the  church  the 
spirit  of  unbelief.''  Is  it  not  by  the  Socinian,  the  Neologian, 
the  Semi-sceptic,  the  proud  assertor  of  intellectual  might? 
Is  it  not  the  insidious  opponent  of  the  grace  of  God,  the 
Pelagian  or  Semi-pelagian  controversialist,  the  secular 
theologian,  the  disputer  of  this  world?  Do  we  not  perceive 
in  the  whole  spirit  of  the  opposition,  that  there  is  no  due 
subjection  of  heart  to  revealed  truth,  that  the  authority  of 
God  does  not  weigh,  that  it  is  man's  opinions,  not  divine 
revelation,  which  sway  the  judgment?  See  the  hazardous 
criticism,  see  the  irreverent  language,  see  the  unholy  tone 
of  scorn,  see  the  rash  and  sweeping  conclusions,  see  the  en- 
mity to  established  sentiments,  see  the  absence  of  spiritual 
affections,  see  the  love  of  ambition  and  fame  and  the  reli- 
ance on  merely  human  learning  which  betray  the  state  of 
the  heart. 

The  authority  of  revealed  truth,  in  its  commanding  fea- 
tures, is,  therefore,  so  far  from  being  lessened  by  these  con- 
siderations, that  it  is  greatly  augmented.  Amidst  the  wan- 
derings of  human  opinion,  the  Bible  is  the  only  safe-guide — 
amidst  the  follies  of  human  conjecture,  it  is  the  only  authori- 
tative wisdom — amidst  the  contradictions  of  human  reason- 
ings, it  is  the  only  decisive  judge — amidst  the  miseries  and 
errors  of  human  ignorance,  it  is  the  only  light  that  shines — 
amidst  the  doubts  and  misgivings  of  the  human  conscience, 
it  is  the  only  effectual  friend  and  counsellor. 

And  thus  the  plain  and  commanding  doctrine  of  salvation 
by  Christ  Jesus,  stands  aloft  and  eminent  above  the  doubt- 
ful opinions  of  men;  thus  the  dignity  and  obligation  of  truth 
is  elevated  above  the  region  of  doubt  and  hesitation;  thus 
the  conscience  of  man  is  bound  to  all  the  main  particulars 
of  that  revelation  which  God  has  made  to  his  fallible  and 
sinful  creatures.  The  fall  of  man,  and  his  redemption  in 
Christ  Jesus,  are  thus  left  with  all  their  claims  upon  our 
faith;  and  the  Sabbath,  as  subservient  to  this  great  remedy, 
remains  as  the  distinguishing  rite  of  revealed  religion. 


PASTORAL    ADDRESS.  33 

My  dear  friends,  let  me  intreat  you  to  examine  yourselves 
whether  you  have  received  the  gospel  in  its  paramount  au- 
thority, and  its  salutary  effects,  as  the  truth  of  almigh- 
ty GOD  ?  With  respect  to  the  knowledge  of  your  fallen 
and  ruined  state;  have  you  felt  it,  and  are  you  feeling  it 
more  and  more — as  a  sick  person  feels  a  painful  and  op- 
pressive disease?  Do  you  long  for  deliverance?  Are  you, 
in  penitence  and  contrition,  acknowledging  your  guilt  and 
depravity,  and  imploring  pardon  and  reconciliation  with 
God? 

And  as  to  the  death  and  passion  of  our  Lord  Christ;  are 
you  relying  upon  it  with  a  lively  and  penitential  faith  ?  Do 
you  look  for  pardon  and  everlasting  life  only  to  the  merits 
and  sufferings  of  the  divine  Surety?  Do  you  renounce 
heartily,  and  from  a  conviction  of  its  worthlessness,  your 
*'own  righteousness  which  is  of  the  law,"  and  do  you  trust 
simply  to  that  Savior  who  has  become,  by  his  obedience 
unto  death,  "the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to  every 
one  that  believeth?"  Do  you  desire  with  St.  Paul,  "to 
count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord?" 

And  with  regard  to  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  are 
you  imploring  his  secret  and  gentle,  but  effective  and  saving 
influences  to  impart  spiritual  life  and  feeling;  to  "give  you  a 
right  judgment  in  all  things;"  and  to  infuse  holy  habits  into 
the  will  and  affections?  Are  you  "renewed  in  the  spirit  of 
your  minds;"  "quickened  from  the  death  of  sin;"  "born 
from  above;"  "delivered,"  not  visibly  merely,  and  sacra- 
mentally,  but  really  and  practically,  "from  the  power  of 
darkness,  and  translated  into  the  kingdom  of  God's  dear 
Son?" 

If  you  have  any  knowledge  of  these  things,  revealed  truth 
in  its  majesty  and  authority  has  produced  its  genuine  effects. 
You  bow  with  all  the  powers  of  your  soul  to  the  will  of  God 
in  the  Holy  Bible.  The  opinions  and  controversies  of  men 
weigh  nothing  against  the  infallible  word  of  inspiration. 
The  Christian  Sabbath  becomes  spontaneously  your  delight. 
Faith  receives  implicitly  the  account  of  its  institution — con- 
science responds  to  the  command.  The  Lord  who  appoint- 
ed it,  has  now  prepared  you  to  use  it  aright.  There  is  a 
correspondence,  a  harmony  between  all  the  parts  of  truth 
and  your  own  mind,  which  springs  from  the  operations  of 


34  PASTORAL   ADDRESS. 

grace  there.  The  same  God  which  indited  the  Bible  has 
taught  and  sanctified  your  heart.  Truth  in  the  record  of 
Scripture,  and  truth  in  your  judgment  and  feelings  is  writ^ 
ten  by  the  same  hand. 

If,  however,  this  happy  change — this  conversion  has  not 
yet  fully  taken  place  in  you — I  mean  if  real  religion  is  not 
yet  seated  in  your  hearts — then  let  me  intreat  you  no 
longer  to  delay  this  great,  this  first  duty  of  an  accountable 
being,  the  care  of  the  soul.  I  intreat  you  to  remember  the 
authority  of  truth — it  claims  your  attention,  it  lays  before 
you  the  most  powerful  body  of  evidences  as  to  its  divine  ori- 
gin— it  promises  you  every  aid  in  making  your  inquiries. 
The  Bible  is  given  to  save  your  soul.  Consider,  I  beseech 
you,  the  danger  of  trifling  with  conscience.  Employ  the 
interruption  to  worldly  affairs  which  the  weekly  Sabbath 
affords,  for  studying  your  Bible,  for  examining  your  heart, 
for  attending  the  public  worship  of  God  with  greater  devo- 
tion and  more  fixed  attention.  Be  in  earnest.  Pray.  Act 
as  a  reasonable  being  under  a  dispensation  of  mercy. 

Above  all,  avoid  that  most  perilous  state  of  mind  which 
COMES  TO  NO  CONCLUSION — which  "halts" — and  contin- 
ues to  "halt" — and  at  last  "halts"  systematically  "be- 
tween two  opinions," — which  goes  on  for  years  with  no  opin- 
ion formed — no  religion  governing  the  soul — with  unprofit- 
able intentions  of  future  penitence  and  faith — and  a  most 
insidious  and  fatal  vacillation  between  God  and  the  world. 

I  conceive  there  are  too  many  in  all  large  parishes,  and 
therefore  amongst  my  own  beloved  flock,  in  this  state — the 
most  opposed  imaginable  to  the  authority  of  revealed  truth. 
They  profess  generally  the  Christian  religion — they  attend 
the  means  of  grace — they  respect  their  ministers — they  ad- 
mire the  national  church — they  join  in  certain  benevolent 
objects.  In  all  this  they  do  well.  But  they  are  not  truly 
converted  from  the  love  and  service  of  sin  and  sensible  ob- 
jects, to  the  supreme  love  and  service  of  God  in  Christ  Je- 
sus.    Truth  has  not  its  just  sovereignty  in  their  hearts. 

And  how  does  this  come  about.'*  There  is  a  fallacy  at 
work.  They  say  of  some  parts  of  truth,  "I  think  them 
doubtful,  they  are  controverted;"  they  say  of  other  parts, 
"I  dread  being  a  party  man,  I  fear  going  too  far,  I  receive 
the  general  doctrines  of  the  church  as  they  are  commonly 
understood — I  mean  the  same — there  is  no  difference;  wq 


PASTORAL    ADDRESS.  35 

all  believe  the  gospel:"  they  say  of  certain  duties,  ^'I  ad- 
mit the  expediency  of  thus  acting,  but  the  time  will  not 
allow  of  it,  my  circumstances  and  connections  forbid;  I  am 
a  man  of  peace."  Thus  they  strike  a  balance,  as  it  were, 
between  God  and  the  world.  They  come  to  a  compromise. 
They  deny  no  article  of  the  Christian  faith  explicitly;  but 
all  the  spiritual,  humiliating  parts,  they  evade — all  the  pe- 
culiar grace  of  Christ  Jesus  they  evade,  all  the  glory  and 
efficacy  of  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  they  evade — all  the 
real  mortification  of  heart  to  sensible  objects  and  worldly 
pursuits  they  evade — all  the  reproach  of  the  cross,  and  the 
shame  following  the  humiliating  doctrine  of  the  gospel  thej 
evade !  Miserable  subterfuges  these — snares  of  the  great 
adversary.  What!  are  the  opinions  of  men,  or  the  fear  of 
a  party-spirit,  or  the  fashion  of  the  day,  or  the  standard  of 
piety  which  happens  to  be  reputable  in  a  rebel  world,  any 
sufficient  arguments  against  the  authority  of  revealed  truth.'* 
You  are  bound  to  yield  to  the  call  and  demand  of  your 
Creator  and  Redeemer,  whatever  may  be  the  consequences. 
It  is  this  commanding  claim  which  I  am  most  anxious  to 
urge  upon  you.  It  is  not  man,  it  is  not  this  or  that  writer, 
it  is  not  the  church,  it  is  not  ministers;  it  is  God  himself 
who  speaks.  Faith  is  the  submission  of  the  soul  to  all  he 
declares — and  therefore  it  is  that  faith  is  not  an  intellectual 
effort,  or  a  cold  assent,  but  the  cordial  acquiescence 
and  repose  of  the  understanding  and  will  of  man  upon 
the  Bible  as  the  word  of  the  living  God.  It  is  the  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  human  heart.  To  seek  this 
blessing,  I  most  affectionately  invite  you,  that  you  may 
know  the  things  which  belong  unto  your  peace,  and  at- 
tain the  blessings  of  salvation. 

Nor  is  it  upon  the  general  body  of  my  friends  and  par- 
ishioners merely,  that  I  would  press  the  authority  of  relig- 
ious truth;  I  would  turn  to  those  who  do  admit  this  author- 
ity, and  are  endeavoring  to  act  uprightly  in  obeying  it,  both 
as  it  regards  the  great  scheme  of  salvation,  and  as  it  re- 
spects the  holy  season  of  the  Lord's  day,  which  is  appoint- 
ed to  accompany  it. 

Let  me  guard  you  against  the  prevalent  invasions  of  the 
authority  of  revealed  truth  which  abound  in  the  present  day. 
I  need  not  say  any  thing  to  put  you  on  your  watch  against 
the  neologism,  the  during  criticism,  the  love  of  novelty,  the 


36        \  PASTORAL    ADDRESS.       . 

impatience  of  old-received  truth,  the  pride  of  a  false  philos- 
ophy, the  pretence  that  knowledge  can  sanctify  and  bless 
mankind,  the  questioning  the  plenary  and  unerring  inspira- 
tion under  which  the  Scriptures  were  written,  and  the  rage 
for  bold  interpretations  of  their  sacred  contents,  which  are 
the  spurious  progeny  of  a  time  like  the  present. 

I  would  rather  caution  you,  with  great  tenderness,  against 
more  covert  attacks  on  the  authority  of  truth,  by  excess  of 
statement — by  over  earnestness  respecting  the  unfulfilled, 
and  therefore  inscrutable  scheme  of  prophecy — by  dispro- 
portionate attention  to  matters  doubtful  at  the  very  best 
and  not  essential  to  salvation — by  vehement  assertions  of 
our  own  particular  sentiments  on  these  points,  and  the  pub- 
lic inculcation  of  them  upon  others.  These  are  clangers  to 
which  I  believe  you  are  at  present  very  little  exposed.  I 
rejoice  to  think  of  the  simplicity  of  your  faith,  and  your  un- 
feigned subjection  to  the  whole  Bible  in  all  its  holy  instruc- 
tions. But  I  would  caution  you.  The  tendency  of  all  such 
misplaced  vehemence  is  to  sap  the  authority  of  truth.  It 
eats  out  the  life  and  grace  of  religion.  It  occupies  the  time, 
distracts  the  thoughts,  takes  off  the  attention  from  God  and 
Christ,  and  pardon  and  justification,  and  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  growth  in  holiness,  and  watchfulness  and  humility — and 
it  gradually  and  unconsciously  draws  off  the  mind  towards 
minute  and  subordinate  points,  which  can  never  be  settled, 
and  if  they  could,  would  not  change  one  duty  nor  one  mo- 
tive of  the  Christian  life.  My  dear  friends,  I  only  suggest 
a  hint.  I  speak  to  my  younger  parishioners  and  fellow 
Christians,  as  a  father  to  his  children.  I  do  not  say, 
"Study  not  the  prophecies" — for  I  study  them  myself  with 
increasing  delight.  I  do  not  say,  "Indulge  not  the  most 
glowing  hopes  of  the  future  millennial  triumph  of  the  church" 
— I  indulge  them  myself.  I  do  not  say,  "Expect  not  the 
second  coming,  the  second  personal  advent  of  our  Lord" — 
I  expect  it  myself — I  watch  or  endeavor  to  watch  with  my 
"loins  girded  and  my  lamp  burning."  On  all  these  points 
there  is  no  difference  of  opinion.  The  danger  is,  when  par- 
ticular explications  of  the  unfulfilled  prophecies  with  respect 
to  them,  possess  the  mind — the  danger  is,  when  the  imag- 
ination dwells,  till  it  is  inflamed,  upon  minute  and  secondary 
details  on  the  time  and  manner  of  our  Lord's  approach — 
the  danger  is,  when  an  hypothesis  is  first  admitted  into  the 


PASTORAL   ADDRESS.  37 

mind,  then  admired,  then  defended,  then  made  an  article, 
or  almost  an  article  of  faith — the  danger  is,  when  repent- 
ance, faith,  love,  obedience,  communion  with  God,  watch- 
fulness, growth  in  grace,  the  discharge  of  social  and  per- 
sonal duties,  are  insensibly  jostled  out  of  the  mind;  and 
these  new  and  subordinate  matters  thrust  into  their  place. 
You  do  not  mean  this — you  are  not  convinced  it  is  possible. 
But  let  me  beseech  you  to  be  on  your  guard.  The  human 
mind  is  a  narrow  place.  The  time  we  have  for  religious 
exercises  is  short.  The  corruption  of  man  leans  always 
towards  theory  rather  than  practice.  Novelty,  when  it 
once  gains  the  imagination,  soon  gets  possession  of  the 
time  and  heart. 

Unnumbered  examples  in  ecclesiastical  annals  testify 
how  the  effects  of  a  similar  course  (unconsciously  admitted 
by  the  most  pious  persons)  have  exposed  the  church  to  the 
wiles  of  our  great  adversary.  Three  times  in  the  course 
of  thirty  years,  have  I  witnessed  such  a  process  my- 
self Whatever  takes  us  off  from  holy  repenting,  holy  be- 
lieving, holy  walking,  holy  loving,  holy  watching,  holy 
dying,  is  an  artifice  of  that  arch-deceiver.  It  is  thus,  in 
every  period  when  they  have  arisen,  that  the  church  has 
been  divided,  that  claims  to  miraculous  powers  have  been 
made,  that  an  inflation  of  mind  has  been  produced,  that 
the  idea  of  a  special  inspiration  has  been  imbibed,  that  all 
argument  and  expostulation  have  proved  fruitless,  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  has  been  grieved,  that  scandals  of  the  most 
fearful  description  have  at  length  arisen,  and  the  honor  of 
Christianity  been  tarnished. 

The  wisdom,  my  dear  friends,  of  the*  humble  servant  of 
God,  is  to  take  warning  betimes;  to  avoid  the  first  steps — 
the  succeeding  may  be  beyond  his  power — but  the  first 
STEPS  he  may  shun — and  at  the  same  time  he  must  take 
care,  that  in  doing  so,  he  is  not  betrayed  into  any  opposite 
extreme,  equally  dangerous   though  of  another  character. 

The  remedy  is,  the  authority  of  truth — the  soul 
subjected  to  God — the  reason  and  conscience  taking  the 
simple,  unsophisticated  declarations  of  the  Bible — stopping 
where  God  stops — and  not  first  imposing  human  notions  on 
this  sacred  book,  and  then  calling  those  notions  the  Bible. 
To  help  us  to  walk  safely  in  all  these  respects,  we  must 
pray  much  for  the  Holy  Spirit,  take  counsel  with  friends, 
4 


38  PASTORAL    ADDRESS. 

be  willing  to  be  ignorant  of  many  things,  mark  the  first 
admonitions  of  conscience,  shun  novelties,  and  fly  before 
we  are  entangled  in  the  net  of  the  subtle  foe. 

As  to  the  practical  duties  of  the  Holy  Sabbath,  I  would 
only  urge  you  and  myself,  my  dear  friends,  to  be  continually 
on  our  watch  against  the  growth  of  unfavorable  habits. 
The  more  holy  it  is  kept,  the  better.  Let  it  be  set  apart 
for  spiritual  duties.  Give  it  up  exclusively  to  God.  Obey 
the  fourth  commandment.  Carry  its  injunctions  into  effect 
in  your  hours,  your  arrangements,  your  spirit,  your  influence, 
your  example,  your  whole  conduct. 

Endeavor  to  make  the  duties  of  the  day  pleasant  and 
interesting  to  children  and  servants.  Imbibe  the  Christian 
spirit  of  love,  of  tenderness,  of  the  compassionate  exam- 
ple of  our  Lord.  Young  persons  cannot  enter  as  you  do, 
into  all  the  reasons  of  the  institution;  but  they  can  be  at- 
tracted, led  on,  encouraged  by  degrees.  Do  not  open  your 
minds  to  objections,  when  you  have  once  been  relieved 
from  doubts — which  I  trust  the  following  sermons  may  as- 
sist in  eff'ecting— do  not  again  admit  them.  Let  the  ques- 
tion be  considered  as  settled — dismiss  the  controversy,  close 
the  debate;  and  give  yourselves  to  the  practical  authority 
of  truth.  To  listen  to  cavils,  after  you  have  come  to  a 
calm  determination,  is  to  tempt  God.  To  dispute  again,  is 
to  grieve  the  Holy  Ghost.  Life  is  too  short  for  intermin- 
able bickerings. 

With  regard  to  public  measures  for  observing  the  Lord's 
day,  I  need  scarcely  invite  my  kind  neighbors  to  aid  the 
new  Association  to  which  I  have  already  adverted.  I  am 
sure  1  may  rely  on  the  heads  of  families,  and  persons  in 
station  and  influence,  to  give  effective  directions  that  trades- 
men bring  home  to  them  no  articles  of  food,  or  other  mer- 
chandise, on  the  Lord's  day. 

I  am  sure  1  need  not  entreat  them  to  attend  with  their 
families,  twice  on  the   Sunday,  the  public  worship  of  God. 

I  am  sure  I  need  not  beg  of  them  to  avoid  the  reading 
of  secular  books  and  public  newspapers,  the  writing  of  let- 
ters of  business,  the  paying  and  receiving  of  ordinary  vis- 
its, the  indulging  in  worldly  and  vain  conversation  on  the 
sacred  day. 

Nor  is  it  necessary  for  me  to  say  much  to  those  of  my 
parishioners  who  are   engaged  in  the  affairs  of  trade,  to  in- 


PASTORAL    ADDRESS.  39 

duce  them  to  close  their  shops,  their  counting-houses,  their 
offices,  their  books  of  account,  on  this  blessed  day.  The 
divine  favor  will  never  prosper  those  who  violate  the  divine 
command.  The  Lord's  day  is  the  tradesman's  time  of  re- 
pose, of  refreshment,  of  spiritual  improvement.  But  I 
conclude.  Accept,  my  dear  friends,  my  best  thanks  for  all 
your  kindness.  Pardon  the  unnumbered  defects  which  have 
attended  my  honest  efforts.  Bear  with  me  both  as  to  the 
manner  and  matter  of  this  address.  It  comes  from  my 
heart.  Let  mutual  prayer  bind  us  together  more  and  more. 
We  have  seen  things  go  forward  now  for  nearly  seven 
years  with  gratifying  success. 

Now  is  the  season,  then,  for  supplication  to  Almighty 
God,  to  animate,  to  quicken,  to  aid  with  his  blessing  these 
introductory  measures.  All  depends  on  his  grace  and  mer- 
cy in  the  first  place,  and  then  upon  the  spirit  of  union  and 
love  amongst  ourselves;  upon  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel 
being  preserved;  upon  the  humility  in  which  we  teach  and 
preach,  and  in  which  you  hear  and  obey,  the  truth;  upon 
the  real  conversion  of  souls  which  is  carried  on;  upon  the 
fruits  of  charity  and  holiness  which  we  produce,  upon  the 
patience  with  which  we  sustain  the  trials,  and  the  perse- 
verance with  which  we  discharge  the  duties  of  life;  and 
upon  the  ascriptions  of  praise  and  glory  which  we  offer  to 
our  God  and  Savior,  for  every  thing  good  in  ourselves  and 
others. 

But  I  will  not  proceed.  I  bid  you  farewell.  I  entreat 
your  prayers  on  my  behalf.  We  stand  on  the  margin  of 
eternity.  I  cannot  long  hope  to  have  strength  for  any  con- 
siderable efforts  for  your  welfare.  Whilst  we  have  time, 
may  we  labor  with  all  diligence;  and  may  each  Lord's 
day,  as  it  revolves,  be  spent  better  than  the  preceding,  and 
prepare  us  more  for  that  "rest,"  that  celebrating  of  a 
Sabbath  "which  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God." 

I  am,  your  most  affectionate  Minister  and  Friend, 

D.  WILSON. 


SERMO^^  I. 


THE  INSTITUTION  OF  A  WEEKLY  SABBATH  IN  PARA- 
DISE, AND  ITS  CONTINUED  AUTHORITY  UNTIL 
THE  DELIVERY  OF  THE  MORAL  LAW. 


Genesis  ii,    1 — 3. 

Thus  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished ^  and  all  the 

host  of  them. 
And  on  the  seventh  day  God  ended  his  work  which  he  had 

made;  and  he  rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all  his 

work  which  he  had  made. 
And  God  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  sanctified  it;  because 

that  in  it  he  had  rested  from  all  his   work  ivhich  God 

created  and  made. 

The  glory  of  God  is  peculiarly  connected  with  the  due 
observance  of  the  day  which  he  is  pleased  to  call  his  own, 
and  on  which  he  has  suspended,  in  every  period  of  the 
church,  almost  all  the  practical  effects  of  that  mighty  sal- 
vation which  \ie  has  provided  for  man.  The  Christian  sab- 
bath is  one  main  distinction  of  the  gospel  dispensation,  as 
the  Jewish  was  of  the  Mosaical,  and  the  patriarchal  of 
the  first  revelation  of  the  divine  will  to  Adam.  The  pro- 
fanation of  that  day  goes  to  annihilate  all  the  blessings  of 
revelation.  It  leaves  the  world  without  any  visible  token 
of  the  authority  of  Christianity,  and  strips  the  church  of 
the  best  means  of  openly  testifying  its  faith  and  obedience. 
If  the  Sabbath  be  taken  away  from  the  mass  of  mankind, 
no  time  is  left  for  religious  duties,  for  the  worship  of  Al- 


INSTtTUTION    OF    SABBATH.  41 

mighty  God,  domestic  piety,  the  instruction  of  children,  the 
visiting  the  sick  and  needy,  the  reading  and  hearing  of  the 
gospel,  the  celebration  of  the  sacraments,  the  preparation 
for  that  rest  of  heaven  of  which  it  is  the  pledge  and  fore- 
taste. Without  ity  the  remaining  classes  of  society  would 
never,  in  fact,  allot  a  time  for  those  duties,  which  being 
left  open,  would  not  be  obligatory;  nor  could  they  sustain 
with  effect  the  honor  of  religion  in  their  families  or  the 
world. 

Christianity  is  indeed  abridged  and  summed  up  in  the 
weekly  return  of  the  day,  when  its  solemn  services  and 
duties  are  performed.  As  real  piety  declines  in  any  coun- 
try, this  symbol  of  it  is  forgotten  or  contemned;  as  it  re- 
vives in  its  doctrines  and  spirit,  men  awake  again  to  the 
value  of  those  means  of  grace,  of  which  the  Sabbath  is  the 
first  in  importance  and  dignity. 

The  divine  authority  of  a  weekly  religious  rest  has  ever 
been  one  of  those  primary  truths  in  which  the  universal 
church  has  most  generally  agreed.  Its  institution  in  para- 
dise and  its  insertion  in  the  moral  law,  have  given  it  an 
authority  on  the  consciences  of  men  which  nothing  has  been 
able  to  shake.  Christian  states  have  hitherto,  without  ex- 
ception, recognized  it,  and  protected  their  subjects  in  the 
peaceable  enjoyment  of  its  repose.  The  disputes  of  con- 
troversialists have  chiefly  affected  subordinate  questions, 
and  have  left  the  divine  authority  undisturbed  as  an  article 
of  the  general  faith  of  Christendom.  The  neglect  of  its 
practical  duties  has,  indeed,  from  the  corruption  of  man, 
been  but  too  common  in  every  age;  but  open  assaults  upon 
the  origin  and  continued  obligation  of  the  day  itself,  have 
been  rare  till  of  late  years. 

Now,  however,  the  spirit  of  covert  scepticism  or  luke- 
warm Christianity  has  not  spared  this  most  ancient  of 
institutions.  Not  content  with  impugning  the  separate 
doctrines  and  mysteries  of  Revelation,  it  makes  bold  to  call 
in  question  that  sacred  season  when  all  those  doctrines  and 
mysteries  are  inculcated.  The  platform  and  arena  of  re- 
ligion is  taken  from  under  our  feet — the  great  external  dis- 
tinction of  the  Christian  faith  is  annihilated — and  man, 
erring  sinful  man,  is  deprived  of  his  day  of  repose  and 
recollection,  and  turned  adrift  to  learn  his  Christianity  and 
celebrate  its  rites,  as  chance  may  dictate  and  expediency 
4% 


42  INSTITUTION    OF     SA.BBATH 

persuade.  And  though  most  of  the  opponents  of  the  dirine 
authority  of  the  Sabbath  are  ready  at  present  to  allow  its 
importance,  and  are  loud  in  their  admiration  of  those  pub- 
lic services  which  custom  and  the  laws  of  our  country  en- 
join, yet  the  tendency  of  their  writings  is  to  sap  the  princi- 
ple on  which  all  this  rests,  to  take  men  off  from  the  firm 
footing  of  conscience  and  the  command  of  God,  and  trans- 
fer them  to  the  sandy  ground  of  human  recommendation 
and  casual  example. 

The  duty  of  the  minister  of  the  gospel,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, is  plain.  He  is  bound  to  instruct  the  young  with 
more  care  than  usual  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
on  this  great  question.  He  is  bound  to  examine  the  more 
popular  and  mischievous  objections.  He  is  bound  to  state 
what  real  difficulties  rest  on  the  subordinate  points  of  the  in- 
quiry. He  is  bound  to  assure  the  poor  and  simple  in  his  flock, 
that  they  may  rely  on  the  grounds  of  their  former  faith. 
He  is  bound  to  recal  the  intelligent  and  elevated  classes 
from   the  fatal  course  on  which  they  are  seduced  to  enter. 

And  in  honestly  attempting  this,  he  may  look  for  the  bless- 
ing of  Almighty  God,  who  only  permits  his  truth  to  be  as- 
sailed in  different  ages,  by  different  classes  of  error,  in  order 
to  prove  and  try  our  faithfulness, — in  order  to  carry  on,  in 
fact,  that  system  of  moral  probation  and  discipline  which 
he  has  been  pleased  to  establish  in  this  world,  and  which  is 
apparent,  not  in  this  question  only,  but  in  every  other  con- 
nected with  the  evidences,  the  doctrines  and  the  precepts  of 
Christianity.  God  has  indeed  left  things  so  in  the  Bible, 
says  Bishop  Butler,  that  his  will  is  plain  to  the  humble  in- 
quirer, but  obscure  and  difficult  to  the  proud — that  there  is 
darkness  enough  on  secondary  matters  and  points  not  con- 
nected with  our  immediate  duty,  to  be  the  occasion  of  ex- 
cuse to  the  unwilling;  whilst  there  is  sufficient  light  to  guide 
the  sincere  and  docile.  For  it  is  to  practice  that  the  doc- 
trine of  revelation  on  this  subject,  as  well  as  every  other, 
tends.  The  day  of  rest,  not  in  its  theory,  or  even  its  di- 
vine obligation,  but  in  its  holy  duties  and  in  its  peculiar  bless- 
ings, is  the  object  which  it  has  in  view.  And  to  this  we 
shall  direct  all  our  attention,  as  soon  as  we  have  cleared 
our  way  through  those  arguments  which  are  necessary  as 
an  introduction  to  practical  exhortation.  In  this  respect  it 
is  that  the  theory  and  doctrine  of  the  sabbath,  its  divine  au- 


IN    PARADISE.  43 

thority  and  perpetual  obligation,  are  so  important.  They 
are  wanted  as  a  ground-work.  When  this  is  firmly  laid,  we 
raise  our  superstructure  with  safety. 

The  whole  subject,  then,  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  divides 
itself  into  two  parts — the  divine  authority  of  a  day  of 
weekly  rest — and  the  manner  in  which  that  day  should  be 
observed  under  the  Christian  dispensation.  The  former 
question  will  occupy  the  first  four  sermons;  the  latter,  the 
last  three  of  the  present  series. 

In  the  first  division  we  shall  have  to  examine  the  founda- 
tion on  which  the  duty  rests,  that  is,  the  grounds  we  have  for 
believing  that  a  seventh  portion  of  our  time,  now  termed  the 
Lord's  Day,  and  formerly  called  the  Sabbath,  is  required 
by  Almighty  God  to  be  dedicated  to  his  immediate  service; 
and  the  nature  of  the   objections   raised  by  our  opponents. 

In  the  second  division  we  shall  point  out  the  practical 
duties  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  the  unspeakable  impor- 
tance of  observing  them,  the  evils  of  the  opposite  neglect, 
and  the  necessity  of  personal  and  national  repentance,  if  we 
would  avert  the  Divine  displeasure. 

We  enter,  then,  now  on  the  first  general  branch  of  the 
whole  question.  Here  the  points  which  most  decidedly  es- 
tablish the  divine  authority  and  perpetual  force  of  a  weekly 
day  of  rest,  are — the  institution  of  it  in  Paradise,  its  sol- 
emn insertion  in  the  decalogues,  the  position  it  holds  under 
the  Mosaic  law,  the  energy  with  which  the  prophets  insist 
upon  it  as  one  of  the  primary  and  universal  obligations  of 
religion,  and  the  observance  of  it  by  the  apostles,  divinely 
directed  to  found  the  Christian  faith,  and  by  all  the  prim- 
itive Christian  churches,  immediately  instructed  by  them. 

The  chief  difficulties  which  our  adversaries  oppose  to 
these  arguments  are,  that  there  are  no  vestiges,  as  they 
assert,  of  the  observance  of  a  Sabbath  in  the  patriarchal 
ages — that  therefore  the  narrative  of  its  institution  in  the 
book  of  Genesis,  is  by  anticipation;  that  it  was  not  estab- 
lished, in  fact,  till  the  time  of  the  ceremonial  law,  and  then 
merely  formed  a  part  of  that  preparatory  economy;  that 
we  have  no  express  command  for  the  observation  of  it,  or 
of  any  day  in  lieu  of  it,  in  the  New  Testament;  that  our 
Lord  repealed  it  by  his  doctrine  and  conduct,  of  which  the 
change  of  the  time  of  its  celebration  is,  as  they  maintain, 
a   sufficient  proof;   and  that,  finally,  the   example  of  the 


4  4  INSTITUTION    OF    SABBATH 

apostles,  and  the  primitive  Christians,  gives  it  only  the 
force  of  a  moral  expediency,  subject  to  the  regulations  of 
each  Christian  church,  in  each  following  age. 

Such  is  the  state  of  the  question.  Our  opponents  pro- 
ceed on  the  silence  of  Scripture  during  the  patriarchal 
ages:  this  we  shall  show  to  be  an  unsound  argument;  and 
shall  prove  that  it  was  instituted  in  Paradise  and  revived 
and  re-established  in  the  wilderness.*  Our  opponents  insist 
that  it  is  a  ceremonial  appointment  appended  to  the  Mo- 
saic dispensation:  we  shall  show  that  it  was  inserted  in 
the  immutable  law  of  the  ten  commandments  before  that 
dispensation;  that  it  was  exalted  during  the  course  of  the 
Mosaic  economy  above  all  merely  typical  institutions,  and 
was  enforced  by  the  prophets  as  of  universal  obligation.']* 
Our  adversaries  say  there  is  no  express  command  for  it  under 
the  New  Testament,  whilst  the  doctrine  and  conduct  of  our 
Lord  virtually  repealed  it:  we  shall  show  that  no  new  statute 
was  to  have  been  expected;  and  that  our  Savior  honored  it 
on  all  occasions,  and  only  vindicated  it  from  uncommanded 
austerities. J  Our  opponents  consider  the  change  of  the  day 
as  a  proof  of  its  abrogation:  we  shall  maintain,  that  this 
was  in  itself  a  subordinate  point;  and  was  altered  upon  the 
authority  of  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath.  Finally,  the  exam- 
ple of  the  apostles  is  reduced  by  our  adversaries  to  a  mere 
commendation  of  the  observance:  we  shall  show  it  to  have 
a  divine  obligation  derived  from  the  inspiration  under  which 
they  acted. ^ 

These  topics  will  occupy  four  sermons.  We  shall  in  the 
present  one  confine  ourselves  to  the  original  institu- 
tion   OF     A     WEEKLY     SABBATH      IN     PARADISE,    AND     ITS 

continued  authority,  till  the  delivery  of  the 
Moral  Law. 

Our  text  contains  the  history  of  "the  first  Sabbath." 
No  sooner  were  the  heavens  and  the  earth  finished,  and 
Adam  placed  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  than  God  blessed  and 
set  apart,  as  our  text  asserts,  one  day  in  seven  for  his  own 
immediate  service.  He  "who  knew  what  was  in  man," 
and  who  had  a  right  to  all  his  obedience  and  love,  was 
pleased  to  appoint  that  six  portions  of  his  time  should  be 
allowed  him  for  his  ordinary  labor,  and  the  seventh  exclu- 

*  Sermon  1.        t  Sermon  2.        t  Sermon  3.        §  Sermon  4. 


IN    PARADISE.  45 

sively  devoted  to  religious  repose,  and  the  exalted  duties  of 
communion  with  his  Maker. 

Every  circumstance  connected  with  this  first  institution 
is  calculated  to  give  us  the  highest  idea  of  its  essential  and 
moral  character.  The  whole  controversy  hinges  here. 
The  universal  obligation  of  the  Sabbath  is  not  disputed,  if 
it  be  proved  that  it  had  its  origin  in  paradise.  And  how 
men  of  gravity  could  ever  persuade  themselves  that  a  narra- 
tive so  express  was  merely  inserted  in  the  chapter  from 
which  our  text  is  taken,  by  a  figure  of  speech,  whilst  the 
Sabbath  was  never  in  fact  heard  of  till  two  thousand  five 
hundred  years  afterwards;  is  one  of  those  startling  posi- 
tions for  which  the  perverseness  of  man's  fallen  nature  can 
alone  account.  The  notion  of  an  anticipated  history  seems 
first  to  have  been  broached  by  the  Jewish  doctors,  in  their 
zeal  to  magnify  the  Mosaical  ritual.*  Their  followers  in 
modern  times,  especially  one  popular  writer,|  have  failed  to 
establish  any  satisfactory  case. 

The  absence  of  any  vestiges  of  the  observance  of  a  Sab- 
bath during  the  brief  history  of  the  patriarchal  ages,  is  a 
species  of  argument  which,  if  it  were  ever  so  well  sustained 
by  the  supposition  on  which  it  proceeds,  is  wholly  without 
force,  as  we  shall  presently  show.  It  will  be  proper,  how- 
ever, to  proceed  in  order.     Let  us  state, 

I.  The  direct  reasons  why  we  believe  the  Sabbath 
to  have  been  instituted  at  the  time  when  the  sacred  narra- 
tive begins. 

The  transactions  of  the  seventh-day  immediately  follow 
those  of  the  sixth,  precisely  as  those  of  the  sixth  follow  the 
fifth — the  history  is  chronological,  unbroken,  complete. 
This  is  the  reason,  each  day's  work  comes  in  order.  As 
on  the  first  day  the  chaotic  mass  and  the  light  were  called 
into  being;  and  on  the  second  the  firmament  was  created; 
and  on  the  third  dry  land  was  made  to  appear;  and  on  the 
fourth  the  sun  and  moon  were  ordained  to  shine;  and  on 
the  fifth  the  fishes  and  winged  fowl  filled  their  several  ele- 
ments; and  on  the  sixth  the  terrestrial  animals,  and  man, 
the  Lord  of  the  lower  creation,  were  made;  so  on  the  sev- 
enth God  "ended  his  work" — "rested  from  all  his  work" 

*  Owen's  Exercitations. 

t  Dr.  Paley.  Archbishop  Bramhall  was  the  chief  supporter  of  this 
notion  in  the  century  before  last. 


46  INSTITUTION     OF     SABBATH 

— and  "blessed  and  sanctified  the  seventh  day,  because  on 
it  he  had  rested  from  all  his  work  which  God  created  and 
made.'*  These  were  the  transactions  of  the  seventh  day, 
which  come  as  directly  in  succession  after  the  preceding, 
as  any  of  the  other  days.  And  can  we,  then,  be  at  liberty, 
merely  because  we  think  subsequent  notices  of  its  observa- 
tion should  occur  in  the  history  of  the  patriarchs,  to  trans- 
fer an  event  thus  recorded  in  a  regular  series  of  transac- 
tions, to  a  period  two  thousand  five  hundred  years  distant? 
We  might  as  well  break  asunder  the  links  of  the  history  of 
the  creation,  at  any  other  period  as  at  this.  We  might 
as  well  suppose  that  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  not 
created,  or  that  man  was  not  formed  on  the  days  which  the 
sacred  history  records.  We  might  as  well  imagine  that 
the  sun  and  moon  did  not  begin  to  shine  as  soon  as  they 
were  made,  as  that  the  Sabbath  was  not  granted  to  man 
at  the  time  which  is  assigned  to  it. 

The  whole  foundation  of  faith  is  overturned  by  such  a 
process.  If  in  a  plain  historical  narrative,  and  especially 
a  series  of  successive  actions,  we  are  not  to  believe  that 
the  events  really  occurred,  as  they  were  affirmed  to  have 
occurred,  the  Bible  is  no  longer  a  clear  and  safe  guide,  but 
an  enigma  and  a  riddle.  The  plain  literal  common-sense 
interpretation  of  the  history  of  the  Scripture  is  indispensa- 
ble to  faith. 

But  in  the  present  case  we  have  yet  further  reasons. 
The  distribution  of  the  work  of  creation  into  its  parts  would 
be  deprived  of  its  object  and  end,  if  the  institution  of  the 
Sabbath  is  expunged.  For  why  this  distribution,  but  to 
mark  to  man  the  proportion  of  time  allotted  him  for  his 
usual  labor,  and  the  proportion  to  be  assigned  to  religious 
exercises?  As  the  narrative  stands  in  the  Scripture,  all  is 
consistent.  The  six  days'  creation,  the  seventh  day's  rest, 
have  their  relative  place.  They  teach  man  a  great  moral 
and  religious  lesson.  Take  away  the  first  Sabbath,  and 
all  is  left  incomplete  and  detruncated — the  object  in  which 
it  terminates  is  wanting. 

Again,  where  is  the  example  in  Scripture  of  any  institu- 
ted commemoration  not  beginning  from  the  time  of  its  ap- 
pointment? Did  the  passover  wait  two  thousand  years 
before  it  was  celebrated,  after  the  deliverance  which  it  was 
designed  to  commemorate?      Did  circumcision  under  the 


IN    PARADISE.  47 

Old  Testament,  or  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  under  the 
New,  remain  in  abeyance  for  centuries  before  they  were 
acted  upon  ?  And  shall  the  commemoration  of  the  glories 
of  creation  be  thought  to  be  suspended  for  more  than  two 
thousand  years  after  the  occasion  on  which  it  was  appoint- 
ed had  taken  place  ?  And  especially  as  the  reason  for  the 
celebration  existed  from  the  beginning;  related  to  the  whole 
race  of  mankind  more  than  to  the  Jews,  and  was  indeed 
most  cogent  immediately  after  the  creation — for  in  the  fol- 
lowing ages  sin  had  marred  the  Almighty's  work. 

One  is  ashamed  to  urge  more  arguments  in  such  a  case 
— but  what  meaning,  I  ask,  had  Moses  in  his  reference  to 
six  days'  labor  and  a  seventh  day's  Sabbath,  as  matters 
familiarly  known,  at  the  time  of  the  miraculous  fall  of 
manna  before  the  giving  of  the  law,  if  there  had  not  been 
a  preceding  institution?  Or  what  is  intended  by  the  cita- 
tion of  the  very  language  of  my  text  in  the  fourth  command- 
ment, if  the  reason  there  assigned  had  not  really  reposed 
on  facts — "For  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and 
earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the  sev- 
enth day;  wherefore  the  Lord  blessed  the  Sabbath  day, 
and  hallowed  it" — where  it  is  to  be  noted,  that  the  words 
are  not  ''the  Lord  blesses  and  hallows;"  or  "will  bless  and 
hallow;"  but,  "wherefore  the  Lord  blessed  the  Sabbath 
day,  and  hallowed  it,"  at  the  time  that  "he  rested"  from 
his  creative  work.  Add  to  this  the  language  of  the  apos- 
tle in  his  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  where  he  takes  for  grant- 
ed that  the  original  rest  of  the  Sabbath  began  when  "the 
works  were  finished  from  the  creation  of  the  world;"*  and 
■we  have  the  strongest  moral  certainty  that  the  narrative  of 
the  institution  of  the  Sabbath  in  paradisef  is  and  must  be 
literally  interpreted. 

But  it  is  further  objected,  that,  allowing  this  account  to 
be  in  its  natural  place,  it  contains  no  enactment  of  a  Sab- 
bath— it  states  merely  that  God  blessed  and  hallowed  the 
seventh  day,  but  for  what  purposes  it  does  not  affirm. 

*  Heb.  iv.  3. 

t  The  opinion  of  ihe  reformers  on  this  subject  is  uniform.  Luther  says, 
If  Adam  had  continued  in  innocencjj  yet  he  would  have  had  a  sacred 
seventh  day.  Beza  says,  that  the  day  of  the  Sabbath  continued  from  thv": 
creation  of  the  world  to  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord,  when  it  was  at 
length  changed  by  the  apostles  into  the  Lord's  day.     I  need  not  go  on. 


48  INSTITUTION    OF     SABBATH 

But  we  ask  in  reply,  for  whose  use  then  did  the  Almighty 
bless  and  hallow  the  seventh  day — what  is  the  meaning  of 
God's  condescending  to  say  that  he  "rested  and  was  re- 
freshed after  the  six  days'  work" — what  instruction  do  we 
derive  from  the  division  of  creation  into  six  portions,  follow- 
ed by  a  seventh  of  repose?  Were  not  all  these  done  for 
the  sake  of  man,  the  reasonable,  intelligent  creature  of  the 
great  artificer?  Did  the  Almighty  rest  for  his  own  sake, 
or  bless  and  hallow  the  seventh  day,  that  he  within  himself 
might  observe  it?  Unreasonable,  if  not  impious,  are  such 
suppositions.  God's  working  six  days,  and  resting  the 
seventh,  were  doubtless  designed  to  be  of  general  and  uni- 
versal use  in  determining  the  proportion  of  time  to  be  sev- 
erally devoted  to  human  and  divine  duties — by  them  the 
conduct  of  mankind  was  to  be  regulated — by  them  God 
intended  to  teach  us  that  we  should,  after  his  example, 
work  six  days,  and  then  rest  and  hallow  the  next  fol- 
lowing  that    we    should    sanctify  every   seventh   day 

that  the  space  between  rest  and  rest,  between  one  hal- 
lowed time  and  another,  among  his  creatures  here  upon 
earth,  should  be  six  days.*  And  indeed  there  is  no  other 
sense  in  which  the  word  "sanctified"  is  used  in  the  Old 
Testament,  when  employed  with  respect  to  inanimate  things, 
or  to  persons  fulfilling  an  office  or  function.  Thus  the 
priests,  the  tabernacle  and  all  its  furniture,  days  of  fasting 
and  penitence,  &c.  were  declared  to  be  sanctified,  when 
they  were  separated  from  common  employments,  and  set 
apart  for  the  especial  service  of  God.  This  is  the  uniform 
import  of  the  terms:  when  it  is  said,  therefore,  that  God 
blessed  and  sanctified  the  seventh  day,  it  means  that  he 
set  it  apart  and  consecrated  it  for  religious  rest,  and  an- 
nexed the  promise  of  his  special  blessing  to  the  discharge 
of  its  duties. 

And  this  meaning,  which  common  sense  requires,  is  ren- 
dered certain  by  the  exposition  of  its  terms  in  the  fourth 
commandment,  where  the  minute  injunctions  with  regard  to 
the  Sabbath  expressly  repose  upon  the  words  of  our  text, 
which  it  cites  and  explains. 

The  objections  to  the  received  faith  of  the  church  on  the 
institution  of  the  sabbath  in  paradise,  you  see,  are  weak  and 
nugatory.     They  have  not  even  a  shadow  of  proof.     Not 

*  J.  Edwards. 


IN    PARADISE.  49 

one  person  in  a  million  of  those  who  read  the  sacred  narra- 
tive, would  ever  dream  that  it  was  an  anticipated  history, 
or  that  it  did  not  imply  a  most  decisive  command  to  keep 
holy  the  day  of  rest. 

Here,  then,  we  fix  our  foot.  Now  let  us  turn  from 
facts  to 

II.  The  just  inferences  to  be  drawn  from  them  as 
to  the  glory  and  dignity  of  the  Sabbath. 

We  learn  from  them,  first,  its  essential  necessity  to 
man  as  man.  Though  Adam  was  in  a  state  of  innocence, 
his  all-wise  Creator  saw  it  necessary  to  call  him  off  from 
even  the  moderate  and  gentle  labor  of  dressing  and  keep- 
ing the  garden,  to  the  immediate  contemplations  and  ex- 
ercises of  religion.  Adam  loved  God  "with  all  his  heart 
and  soul  and  mind  and  strength" — he  required  no  season 
of  repose  to  withdraw  his  mind  from  the  eagerness  of 
worldly  pursuits,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  require  it,  nor  to 
recreate  his  body  from  excessive  toil — and  yet  the  Sabbath 
was  necessary  for  him.  Judge  from  this  of  its  essential 
moral  character.  Judge  from  this  how  indispensable  it  is 
to  fallen  man,  with  that  propensity  to  earthly  things  which 
now  weighs  down  his  soul,  and  that  aversion  and  enmity  to 
communion  with  a  holy  God  which  sin  has  superinduced. 

Consider,  further,  that  it  was  the  first  command  given 
by  God  to  Adam,  as  soon  as  ever  the  work  of  creation  was 
finished.  Man  never  was  without  a  Sabbath.  The  mo- 
ment there  was  a  creature  formed  capable  of  knowing  and 
serving  God,  a  special  time  was  assigned  for  that  end. 
The  Sabbath  is  coeval  with  the  human  race.  It  takes 
precedence  of  the  prohibition  of  the  tree  of  knowledge.  It 
rests  on  the  essential  relation  of  a  creature  with  his  glori- 
ous Creator. 

Observe,  further,  that  this  command  was  not  merely 
made  known  to  man,  in  some  of  those  ways  in  which  his 
Maker   afterwards    communicated    his   will,   but    it    was 

PLACED,    AS    it     WERE,    ON     THE     FOOTING    OF    CREATION 

ITSELF.  By  the  Almighty  hand  all  nature  might  have  been 
called  into  being  in  an  instant.  The  distribution  of  the 
work  over  six  days,  followed  by  the  repose  on  the  seventh, 
was  to  infix  this  grand  principle  in  the  mind  of  every  hu- 
man being,  that  after  six  days'  labor,  one  day  of  religious 
rest  should  follow.  God  worked  in  a  certain  order,  that 
5 


50  .     INSTITUTION    OF    SABBATH 

man  might  work  in  the  same;  God  rested  at  a  certain 
time,  that  man  might  rest  likewise.  In  this  glorious  man- 
ner is  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  graphically  set  forth;  this  is 
the  distinction  which  crowns  the  brow  of  the  Queen  of 
days.  We  have  already  noticed  the  proof  this  furnishes 
of  the  Sabbath  having  been  instituted  at  the  time  assigned 
in  the  sacred  story;  but  we  now  deduce  from  it  the  impor- 
tance and  dignity  of  the  appointment  itself.  It  is  an 
appointment  not  written  merely  by  inspired  men,  not  graven 
on  tables  of  stone,  not  indented  in  lead  on  the  rock  for 
ever,  not  uttered  in  the  first  instance  from  the  summit  of 
the  mount  by  the  voice  of  the  Almighty  and  amidst  the 
thunders  and  terrors  of  Sinai — but  infixed  in  the  creative 
order  of  the  universe,  inscribed  on  the  heavens  and  earth, 
exhibited  in  the  radiant  character  of  the  six  days'  work, 
associated  with  every  commemoration  of  the  wisdom  and 
glory  of  God,  promulgated  with  the  majesty  and  example 
of  the  great  Lord  of  all — and  therefore  requiring  no  subse- 
quent enactments,  except  to  incorporate  it  with  the  vari- 
ous dispensations  of  religion,  and  revive  it  when  forgotten, 
that  it  may  go  on  and  accompany  man  so  lon^  as  he  con- 
tinues upon  earth. 

We  learn  also,  from  this  order  of  creation,  that  man  was 
made,  not  for  constant  and  unrelieved  employment,  or  for 
earthly  pursuits  chiefly,  but  for  labor  with  intervals 
OP  REPOSE,  and  in  subordination  to  the  glory  of 
HIS  God:  man  was  formed  not  for  seven  days'  toil,  but  for 
six — man  was  formed  not  for  secular  and  terrestrial  pur- 
suits merely,  but  for  the  high  purpose  of  honoring  God, 
meditating  on  his  works,  and  preparing  for  the  enjoyment 
of  him  for  ever.  The  essential  nature  of  the  institution 
obviously  lies  in  the  proportion  of  time  fixed  by  his  benefi- 
cent and  all-wise  Creator — for  his  body  six  days'  labor, 
for  his  soul  one  day  of  religious  rest;  and  this  corresponds 
with  his  compound  nature — his  intellectual  and  moral  part 
calling  him  up  to  the  exalted  and  delightful  offices  of  re- 
ligion, and  his  bodily  and  animal  part  requiring  recreation 
and  repose.  The  Sabbath  is  the  spiritual  badge  and  char- 
ter of  man. 

What  a  dignity,  then — what  an  importance — what  an 
obligation  attaches  to  this  sacred  day!  Well  may  it  be 
admitted  by  our  chief  opponent,  that  if  "the  divine  command 


IN    PARADISE.  51 

was  actually  delivered  at  the  creation,  it  was  no  doubt  ad- 
dressed to  the  whole  human  species  alike,  and  continues, 
unless  repealed  by  some  subsequent  revelation,  binding  upon 
all  who  come  to  the  knowledge  of  it."* 

III.     Let  us  next  show  that,  there  are  traces  of 

THE     observation     OF     A     WEEKLY     REST     DURING    THE 

PATRIARCHAL  AGES.  For  it  is  upon  this  assumption,  as 
we  have  stated,  that  the  idea  of  an  anticipated  narrative 
is  founded.  "There  are  no  vestiges,  not  a  single  allusion," 
say  our  opponents,  "of  the  knowledge  of  a  sabbatical  rest, 
till  the  Mosaical  law;  and  therefore  the  account  in  the 
book  of  Genesis  is  by  prolepsis." 

We  allow  that  there  are  no  express  notices  of  a  weekly 
Sabbath  as  observed  by  the  patriarchs.  We  allow  that 
the  detailed  scenes  in  the  lives  of  Abraham  and  Jacob  are 
without  any  direct  declaration  on  the  subject.  That  there 
are  allusions  and  vestiges  we  shall  presently  show.  But  we 
admit  the  difficulty  so  far  as  the  objection  is  founded.  But 
what  does  it  amount  to,  even  supposing  it  be  conceded  in 
all  its  extent?  Would  the  loss  of  the  original  law  of  the 
Sabbath  for  two  thousand  five  hundred  years,  amidst  the 
corruption  flowing  from  the  fall,  prove  that  no  such  law  had 
been  enacted  at  the  creation?  The  original  law  of  mar- 
riage was  lost  during  a  much  longer  period,  but  was  it  the 
less  reasserted  by  our  Savior,  as  the  primary  and  binding 
appointment  of  the  Almighty?  But  we  admit  not  that  the 
observation  of  the  Sabbath  was  wholly  forgotten  during  this 
period.  The  objection  can  only  pretend  to  rest  on  the 
silence  of  Scripture.  Now  to  argue  from  that  silence,  is 
most  unfair  and  most  injurious  to  the  interests  of  revelation. 

An  objection  derived  from  things,  not  being  expressly 
mentioned  so  often  as  we  might  please  to  expect,  is  wholly 
inconclusive.  No  mention  is  made  of  sacrifices  from  the 
time  of  Abel  till  the  deluge,  a  period  of  fifteen  hundred 
years,  nor  from  the  arrival  of  Jacob  at  Beershebaf  till  the 
deliverance  from  Egypt,  a  space  of  two  or  three  hundred 
more;  but  does  this  prove  that  sacrifices  were  not  offered? 
We  read  nothing  about  circumcision  from  the  death  of 
Moses  to  the  days  of  Jeremiah,  an  interval  of  eight  centu- 
ries; but  does  any  one  imagine  that  circumcision  was  not 

*  Paley.  f  Gen.  xlvi,  1, 


52  INSTITUTION    OF    SABBATH 

performed?  No  mention  of  the  Sabbath  occurs  in  the 
histories  of  the  books  of  Joshua,  Ruth,  first  and  second 
of  Samuel,  and  first  of  Kings,  which  are  so  much  more  de- 
tailed than  those  of  Genesis;  and  yet  this  was  during  the 
Mosaical  law,  when  the  institution  was  confessedly  in  its 
fullest  vigor.  The  ordinance  of  the  red  heifer,  again,  is 
never  once  noticed  from  the  period  of  the  Pentateuch,  till 
the  close  of  the  Old  Testament;  but  the  apostle  refers  to 
it,  and  argues  from  it  in  the  New,  as  a  rite  well  known, 
and  in  constant  use.  Even  in  the  book  of  Psalms  and  in 
the  Prophets,  the  Sabbath  is  seldom  expressly  mentioned, 
except  when  the  neglect  of  it  provoked  the  indignation  of 
the  Almighty. 

So  little  force  is  there  in  the  objection,  even  allowing  it 
all  it  demands.  It  is  not  for  us  to  prescribe  to  the  Al- 
mighty how  often,  or  under  what  circumstances,  any  of  his 
commands  should  be  repeated.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know 
with  regard  to  the  Sabbath,  that  it  was  instituted  in  the 
most  solemn  and  resplendent  manner.  From  this  we  may 
justly  infer,  that  the  observation  of  it  was  never  wholly  lost 
amongst  the  descendants  of  Seth,  and  in  the  line  df  Abra- 
ham, and  the  other  patriarchs;  though  the  celebration  of 
it  is  not  expressly  recorded.  It  is  thus  we  deduce  from  the 
continual  off'ering  of  sacrifices,  that  that  institution  was 
divinely  appointed,  though  we  have  no  express  mention  of 
that  appointment.  The  cases,  indeed,  of  sacrifice  and  of 
the  Sabbath  are  in  one  respect  similar.  The  record  is 
not  complete:  but  we  infer  what  is  wanting  from  what 
is  exj)ressly  stated.  Of  sacrifice,  the  celebration  by  the 
patriarchs  after  the  deluge  is  perpetually  recorded,  though 
we  have  no  direct  account  of  its  institution.  Of  the  Sab- 
bath, the  original  law  is  distinctly  given,  though  the  con- 
tinued observance  by  the  patriarchs  is  not  expressly  men- 
tioned. If  objections  are  urged  on  the  ground  of  these 
omissions,  it  is  surely  permitted  to  us  to  reply,  that  from  the 
celebration  of  sacrifices  by  Abel  and  the  patriarchs,  we 
justly  infer  its  divine  appointment:  and  from  the  glorious 
and  singular  institution  of  the  Sabbath,  its  subsequent  obser- 
vance by  the  holy  seed."* 

*  Owen. 


IN    PARADISE.  53 

But  we  are  proceeding  too  long  upon  the  concession  that 
there  are  no  traces  in  Scripture  of  a  weekly  rest,  from  the 
creation  to  the  time  of  Moses.  For  in  truth  there  are  traces, 
faint,  perhaps,  if  taken  by  themselves  and  separated  from 
the  first  record  of  the  institution  in  paradise,  but  sufficiently 
discernible  in  that  connection,  for  the  purpose  of  rebutting 
a  mere  objection. 

The  very  first  act  of  divine  worship  after  the  fall  affords 
indications  of  a  day  of  religion.  Cain  and  Abel  brought 
their  offering  ^'in  process  of  time,"  as  the  common  reading 
has  it,  but  literally,  and  as  it  is  in  the  margin,  "at  the 
end  of  the  days."  Thus  we  have  in  the  sacred  narrative, 
the  priest,  altar,  matter  of  sacrifice,  motive,  atonement 
made  and  accepted,  and  appointed  time — indications  these 
entirely  consistent  with  the  supposition  of  a  previous  sab- 
batical institution — and  indeed  proceeding  upon  it — for  that 
is  the  meaning  of  the  expression,  "at  the  end  of  the  days." 
But  one  division  of  days  had  been  yet  mentioned,  and  that 
was  of  the  days  of  the  week,  the  Sabbath  being  the  last  or 
seventh  day — we  may,  therefore,  reasonably  suppose  that 
holy  season  to  be  here  termed,  "the  end  of  the  days." 

Again,  we  read  that  "men,"  in  the  days  of  Seth,  (two 
hundred  years,  perhaps,  after  Abel's  sacrifice,)  "began  to 
call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  or  "to  call  themselves  by 
the  name  of  the  Lord;"  and  four  hundred  years  later,  "that 
Enoch  walked  with  God" — terms  of  large  import,  and 
which,  when  illustrated  by  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the  He- 
brews, where  the  faith  of  the  patriarchs  in  the  divine  order 
of  creation  so  highly  extolled,  are,  to  say  the  least,  en- 
tirely consistent  with  the  observation  of  a  day  of  religious 
worship. 

We  come  to  the  flood.  Sixteen  centuries  have  elapsed 
since  the  institution  of  the  weekly  rest.  And  now  we  find 
the  reckoning  by  weeks  familiarly  referred  to  as  the  ordi- 
nary division  of  time.  The  Lord  said  unto  Noah,  "Yet 
seven  days,  and  I  will  cause  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth." 
And  again,  "It  came  to  pass  after  seven  days,  that  the 
waters  of  the  flood  were  upon  the  earth."  These  passa- 
ges occur  in  the  seventh  chapter.  Then  in  the  next,  when 
the  flood  is  decreasing,  Noah  sent  out  a  dove,  which  return- 
ed; he  then  stayed  "yet  other  seven  days,"  and  again  sent 
it  forth.  And  again  in  the  same  terms,  "And  he  stayed 
5* 


54  INSTITUTION    OB*    SABBATH 

yet  other  seven  days,"  and  "sent  forth  the  dove  out  of 
ark  for  the  third  time,  which  returned  not  again  to  him  any 
more."*  Surely  here  are  vestiges  by  no  means  doubtful, 
not  only  that  days  were  reckoned  by  portions  of  seven,  but 
that  the  use  of  that  method  of  calculation  was  familiar  in 
the  line  of  the  patriarchs.  Nothing  can  be  more  certain 
than  that  the  return  of  seven  days  brought  something  pe- 
culiar with  it;  and  we  judge  it  probable,  from  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Sabbath,  that  that  peculiarity  was  the  day  of 
sacred  rest. 

Accordingly  after  the  flood,  the  tradition  of  that  division 
of  time  spread  over  all  the  eastern  world — Assyrians, 
Egyptians,  Indians,  Arabians,  Persians,  unite  with  the 
Israelites  in  retaining  vestiges  of  it.  In  the  earliest  re- 
mains of  the  heathen  writers,  Hesiod,  Homer,  Callimachus 
— the  sanctity  of  the  seventh  day  is  referred  to  as  a  mat- 
ter of  notoriety.  Philo,  the  Jew,  declares  that  there  was 
no  nation  under  heaven  where  the  opinion  had  not  reached. 
The  days  of  festival  solemnities  among  the  heathen  had 
in  all  probability  this  source.  Indeed,  as  the  obscure  no- 
tices of  the  original  state  of  man,  of  the  fall,  of  sacrifices, 
of  the  deluge,  were  scattered  amongst  the  remotest  nations, 
so  also,  faint  traces  of  a  weekly  religious  rest  are  discerni- 
ble. The  very  number  seven,  in  Hebrew,  and  the  kindred 
languages,  is  expressed  by  a  word  which  primarily  signifies 
fulness,  completion,  sufficiency;  and  was  probably  applied 
to  a  week  because  that  was  the  space  occupied  in  fully 
completing  the  work  of  creation. 

But  we  come  to  the  history  of  Abraham.  Here  it  is 
deserving  notice,  as  we  pass,  that  the  rite  of  circumcision 
was  to  be  performed  after  the  lapse  of  seven  days  from  the 
birth;  but  the  commendation  of  Abraham's  example,  "That 
he  commanded  his  children  and  his  household  after  him,  to 
keep  the  way  of  the  Lord,  to  do  justice  and  judgment," 
implies  that  there  was  a  way  prescribed  by  the  Almighty, 
and  certain  observances  in  which  consisted  justice  and 
judgment,  amongst  which  the  Sabbath  was  probably  the 
chief.  But  in  the  more  full  declaration  afterwards  made 
concerning  him  to  Isaac;"  "That  Abraham  obeyed  his 
voice,  and  kept  his  charge,  his  commandments,  his  statutes, 

*  Gen.  vii.  4,  lOj  viii.  10,  12. 


IN    PARADISE.  55 

and  his  laws;"  the  terms  employed  are  so  various,  as  to 
be  by  no  means  naturally  interpreted  of  the  ordinances 
of  circumcision  and  sacrifice  only,*  but  to  include,  as 
much  as  if  it  were  named,  the  charge  and  law  of  the 
Sabbath. 

We  come  to  Jacob;  and  few,  I  think,  can  doubt,  that 
when  he  had  uttered  the  devout  exclamation,  "This  is  none 
other  than  the  house  of  God,  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven;" 
and  then  vowed,  that  the  "stone  should  be  God's  house" 
— he  alluded  to  what  was  customary  with  the  pious  patri- 
archs, the  worship  of  God  in  a  stated  place,  and  on  a  stated 
time — the  Sabbath;  without  which,  a  house  of  God  would 
be  a  term  of  little  meaning;  but  with  which  it  would  indeed 
be  the  pledge  and  anticipation  of  heaven.  Even  Laban 
seems  to  have  had  the  notion  of  a  weekly  division  of  time; 
"Fulfil  her  week,  and  we  will  give  thee  this  also.f"  But 
I  will  not  dwell  on  more  particulars.  The  numerous,  the 
almost  perpetual  notices  of  places,  of  altars,  of  sacrifices, 
of  the  worship  of  God,  of  solemn  titles  given  to  particular 
spots,  all  confirm  the  supposition,  which  is  the  only  rea- 
sonable one,  that  the  sabbatical  institution  was  not  unknown 
to  the  patriarchs.  We  may  notice  the  case  of  holy  Job, 
as  confirming  this,  who,  remote  as  was  the  place  of  his 
abode,  more  than  once  reminds  us  of  "a  day,  when  the 
sons  of  God  came  to  present  themselves  before  the  Lord.  "J 

So  utterly  gratuitous  is  the  assumption  that  the  observa- 
tion of  a  day  of  religious  worship  was  unknown  to  the  pa- 
triarchs. Probably  the  very  notoriety  of  the  institution 
might  be  one  cause  why  the  sacred  historian  judged  it  un- 
necessary to  dwell  on  particular  recurrences  of  its  obser- 
vance. At  all  events,  the  very  silence  of  Scripture  after- 
wards, can  never  be  fairly  alleged  against  the  previous  in- 
stitution of  the  Sabbath  in  paradise,  when  even  the  ad- 
mission that  the  patriarchs  had  actually  lost  the  traces,  or 
neglected  the  celebration  of  it,  would  have  had' no  such  con- 
sequence. 

Doubtless,  as  time  rolled  on,  and  particularly  during 
centuries  of  bondage  in  Egypt,  the  memory  of  this  primaeval 
ordinance  became  faint,  and  the  observation  of  it  by  the  en- 

*  Gen.  xvil.  12;    xv'iii.  19.  xxvi.  5. 
+  Gen.  xxix.  27.  '\  Job  i.  10,  ii.  11. 


56  INSTITUTION    OF    SABBATH 

slaved  people  almost  impracticable.  But  it  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  even  then  wholly  forgotten.  For  we  observe, 
that, 

IV.     The    manner  in    which    the    Sabbath   was 

REVIVED  and  re-established  BEFORE  THE  COMMENCE- 
MENT OF  THE  MOSAicAL  ECONOMY,  proves  that  it  was  a 
previous  institution,  which  had  never  been  entirely  lost; 
and  therefore  confirms  all  we  stated  of  its  origin  in  paradise 
and  its  continuance  during  the  patriarchal  ages.  An  in- 
terval uf  two  thousand  five  hundred  years  had  elapsed  since 
the  fall,  eight  or  nine  hundred  years  had  passed  since  the 
flood,  and  more  than  four  hundred  since  the  call  of  Abra- 
ham. Two  centuries  of  captivity  in  Egypt  had  also  re- 
duced the  religious  knowledge  of  the  people  of  Israel  to  the 
lowest  ebb.  If,  therefore,  the  authority  of  the  Sabbath 
survived  this  last  state  of  bondage,  we  may  fairly  conclude 
that  it  had  not  perished  in  any  of  the  preceding  periods. 
Mark  the  history.  The  manna  is  announced;  a  double 
portion  is  promised  on  a  certain  day.  But  in  what  terms? 
"It  shall  come  to  pass  that  on  the  next  day  they  shall  pre- 
pare that  >which  they  bring  in,  and  it  shall  be  twice 
as  much  as  they  gather  daily."*  Here  is  no  express  men- 
tion of  the  Sabbath,  nor  any  reason  assigned  why  they 
should  find  a  double  portion  on  the  sixth  day.  But  the 
reason  was  known — the  reference  was  intelligible.  The 
language  is  not  that  of  one  delivering  a  new  precept,  but 
restoring  an  old  and  well-known,  though  neglected  one. 
Accordingly,  Moses,  in  explaining  the  fact,  speaks  of  the 
sabbath  as  not  effaced  from  the  memory  of  the  people. 
"This  is  that  which  the  Lord  hath  said,  To-morrow  is  the 
rest  of  the  holy  Sabbath  unto  the  Lord  your  God."  What 
had  the  Lord  said? — nothing  directly  about  the  Sabbath; 
but  the  allusion  to  the  division  of  time  into  six  working  days 
was  enough — the  Sabbath  was  known  to  follow  them.  If 
similar  terms  were  employed  in  any  modern  act  of  parlia- 
ment, every  one  would  understand  that  it  referred  to  some 
previously  existing  statute  or  custom,  of  which  the  knowl- 
edge was  not  altogether  lost. 

And  thus  the  restoration  of  the  Sabbath  before  the  Mo- 
saical  law,  seems  designed  to  link  the  patriarchal  with  the 

*  Exodus  xvi. 


IN    PARADISE.  67 

Jewish  day  of  rest;  it  proves  that  the  first  had  not  been 
altogether  obliterated,  and  it  shows  that  the  second  was 
founded  on  a  law  of  primaeval  and  universal  obligation; 
whilst  the  threefold  miracle  of  the  manna  on  each  Sabbath, 
clearly  points  out  the  importance  attached  by  Almighty  God 
to  the  institution. 

On  what  particular  day  of  the  seven  this  renewed  rest 
was  first  celebrated  we  cannot  determine.  The  stress  of 
the  commandment  lies  on  the  proportion  of  time  in  the  order 
of  creation.  The  exact  computation  of  weeks  from  the  first 
institution,  had  in  all  probability  been  lost;  and  the  new 
calculation,  we  may  conjecture,  dated  from  the  day  of  the 
deliverance  from  Egypt,  as  the  commencement  of  the  year 
undoubtedly  did.  Thus  the  redemption  of  Israel  may  have 
fixed  the  particular  day  for  reckoning  the  series  of  Sabbaths 
then;  as  a  greater  redemption  did  at  the  introduction  of  a 
more  glorious  era. 

But  we  pause.  Our  inquiries  have  hitherto  been  success- 
ful. All  is  consistent.  The  grandeur  of  creation  gave  an 
impulse  and  projection  to  the  law  of  the  Sabbaih,  which 
human  corruption  was  unable  to  eiface,  even  before  Moses 
arose  to  recal  men  to  the  purity  of  religion,  and  the  hope  of 
future  redemption.  In  the  line  of  the  patriarchs  faint 
traces  of  it  are  discernible.  The  intervening  re-enactment, 
before  the  ceremonial  economy  unites  the  patriarchal  and 
Jewish  day  of  rest;  and  confirms  us,  by  its  reference,  in  the 
faith  of  the  positive  fact  of  a  previous  institution,  to  which 
that  reference  points. 

I.  Let  us  then,  first,  in  applying  this  part  of  our  sub- 
ject, observe,  the  extreme  violence  which  is  done 
TO  THE  christian  FAITH,  when  any  important  fact  in 
the  Scriptures,  such  as  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath  in 
paradise,  is  attempted  to  be  explained  away  by  the  fancy 
of  man.  The  authors  of  such  novelties  think  little  of  the 
consequences  of  what  they  are  about.  The  thought  is  sug- 
gested to  them  by  another.  It  is  strange,  it  is  hardy. — 
This  commends  it.  They  are  ingenious  men — they  can 
write — they  can  defend  the  monstrous  supposition.  The 
great  body  of  the  church  disregard  and  despise  the  perver- 
sion; but  the  young  are  injured.  In  an  inquisitive  age, 
half-knowledge  prevails.  The  human  heart  is  too  much 
disinclined  to  spiritual  religion,  not  to  catch  at  any  plea 


58  INSTITUTION    OF    SABBATH 

for  neglecting  the  day  of  divine  worship.  Thus  the  evil 
spreads.  The  original  author  was  not  deeply  penetrated 
with  that  reverence  for  revelation  as  the  communication  of 
the  will  of  God,  which  forbids  rash  innovation — was  not, 
perhaps,  conscious  that  the  foundation  of  all  faith  is  over- 
turned, if  the  plain,  strait-forward  interpretation  of  histor- 
ical passages  is  exchanged  for  conjecture,  hypothesis,  in- 
ventions of  an  anticipated  narrative.  But  what  can  be  so 
mischievous?  Such  daring  criticism,  like  a  magic  wand,  can 
make  every  truth  and  every  fact  of  the  Bible  change  their 
places  and  import.  Indeed,  this  same  kind  of  ingenuity 
denies  the  fact  of  the  fall  of  man,  calls  in  question  the  ex- 
istence of  evil  spirits,  doubts  the  temptation  of  our  Lord, 
and  goes  on  to  question  the  truth  of  the  Mosaic  or  Chris- 
tian miracles.  Thus  all  faith  soon  disappears;  for  it  is  but 
another  step  in  the  same  process  to  deny  the  corruption  of 
our  nature  by  the  fall,  the  divinity  and  atonement  of  Christ, 
the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  truth  of  our  regenera- 
tion by  that  blessed  spirit,  and  of  spiritual  religion  altogeth- 
er. Thus  the  peculiar  revelation  of  the  Bible  is  gone,  and 
yet  we  call  ourselves  Christians. 

We  must  resist  this  fatal  poison.  To  say  that  the  nar- 
rative of  the  institutionof  the  Sabbath  in  Paradise  is  put  out 
of  its  place,  is  a  violence  to  faith.  This  is  enough.  When 
the  idea  is  first  started,  the  mind  of  the  Christian  trembles 
— he  supposes  he  cannot  demonstrate  that  the  assertion  is 
groundless.     But  he  can  demonstrate  it.     To  change  a 

SERIES  OF  EVENTS  IN  A  SCRIPTURAL  NARRATIVE  IS  A 
VIOLENCE    TO    THE    FIRST    PRINCIPLES    OF  ALL    BELIEF    IN 

REVELATION.  This  is  a  moral  demonstration  against  any 
mere  hypothesis. 

And  more  especially  should  we  act  with  this  decision  in 
respect  to  so  fundamental  a  fact  as  the  entire  scheme  and 
glory  of  creation,  the  whole  design  and  proportion  of  divine 
wisdom  in  the  order  of  the  six  days'  work,  the  primary  dis- 
tribution of  time  into  its  proportions  for  the  use  of  man; — that 
first  prodigious  act  on  which  the  subsequent  parts  of  revelation 
hang  for  their  consistency  and  force.  And  this  disposed 
of  by  a  mere  assumption — the  fact  transposed  from  the  pe- 
riod of  creation,  to  a  distance  of  two  or  three  thousand 
years,  without  an  intimation  in  tl?e  narrative  itself,  against 


IN    PARADISE.  59 

all  the  laws  of  interpretation,  and  to  supply  a  necessity 
which,  after  all,  is  found  not  to  exist.  Such  a  conduct  is 
portentous. 

Let  us  cleave,  then,  to  the  foundation  of  all  faith  in  the 
various  other  facts  of  revelation,  by  adhering  to  this;  and 
let  us  cultivate  more  and  more  that  humility,  that  submis- 
sion of  heart  to  God,  that  restraint  of  human  curiosity  and 
presumption,  in  which  the  essence  of  faith  so  much  con- 
sists. It  is  the  wrong  state  of  heart  which  is  the  hot-bed 
where  these  pernicious  notions  are  generated.  Let  the 
heart  delight  in  the  divine  worship;  let  the  heart  meditate 
on  the  divine  perfections  in  Christ  Jesus  with  holy  compla- 
cency; let  the  heart  rejoice  in  God  as  its  happiness,  and 
such  errors  will  not  readily  find  entertainment.  I  vindicate 
the  first  Sabbath,  that  I  may  lead  you  to  celebrate  with 
more  devotion  every  other.  I  resist  with  indignation  the 
attempt  to  sap  the  institution  of  it  in  paradise,  that  I  may 
lead  you  to  due  contemplation  on  the  glories  of  creation,  as 
often  as  the  day  of  grace  returns. 

II.  Yes,  come  with  me,  before  we  close  this  discourse, 
and  LET  us  adore  and  praise  the  Almighty  Father 

OP  ALL,  FOR  the  DISTINCT  GLORIES  SHED   UPON  the  day  of 

religious  repose.  Come  and  praise  him  for  condescending  to 
imprint  its  first  enactment,  and  the  reasons  on  which  it 
is  grounded,  on  the  six  days  creative  wonders.  I  am  per- 
suaded, that  the  first  Sabbath  is  not  enough  magnified. 
We  are  familiar  with  the  tenor  of  the  simple  and  sublime 
narrative  from  our  infancy.  Our  hearts  are  cold  to  devo- 
tion; objections  poison  our  first  feelings.  Enter  more  into 
the  dignity  of  that  day,  for  the  institution  of  which  all  days 
were  formed.  Imbibe  the  exalted  spirit  of  that  portion  of 
time,  to  encircle  and  ennoble  which  all  other  portions  took 
their  place,  as  courtiers  around  the  queen  and  mistress  of 
days.  No  other  command  of  God  has  the  peculiarity  of 
this;  no  other  institution,  no  other  service,  no  other  ordi- 
nance of  religion  has,  or  can  have,  the  majesty  blazing 
around  it,  which  illuminates  the  day  of  God.  Come,  glorify 
your  God  and  Father.  He  bids  you  rest,  but  it  is  after 
his  own  example.  He  bids  you  labor,  but  it  is  after  his 
pattern.  Imitate  the  supreme  Architect.  Work  in  the  order 
in  which  he  worked,  cease  when  he  was  pleased  to  cease. 
Let  the  day  of  religion,  after  each  six  days'  toil,  be  to  you 


60  INSTITUTION    OF    SABBATH 

a  blessed  and  a  sanctified  season.  Plead  the  promise  at- 
tached to  the  Sabbath:  it  is  blessed  of  God,  it  is  sanctified 
of  God,  it  is  hallowed  of  God.  Implore  forgiveness  of 
your  past  neglect.  Let  no  Sabbath  henceforth  leave  you, 
without  having  sought  the  blessing  promised,  and  performed 
the  duties  to  which  it  is  dedicated.  Let  your  devout  med- 
itation on  the  glories  of  creation  swell  the  choir  of  your 
Maker's  praise.  Join  "the  sons  of  God"  in  their  joys 
and  songs  at  the  birth  of  the  universe.*  Adore  the  kind- 
ness and  benevolence  of  the  Almighty,  in  interposing  one 
day's  repose  after  every  six,  between  the  toil,  and  confusion, 
and  passions,  and  secularity  of  this  world's  duties.  Bless 
your  Redeemer  and  Savior  for  preserving  some  traces  of 
this  most  ancient  of  institutions  amidst  the  patriarchal  ages, 
to  remind  us  of  our  greater  privileges,  (as  we  shall  see  in 
the  subsequent  discourses,)  now  that  we  have  had  the  ten 
commandments  again  promulgating  its  divine  obligation; 
the  prophets  enforcing  its  observance;  the  blessed  Jesus 
vindicating  its  gracious  simplicity;  the  Apostles  and  tlie 
universal  church  handing  down  to  us  its  sacred  obligations. 
Yes,  let  the  brighter  day  of  the  gospel  guide  our  feet  to 
that  sacred  temple  and  that  sacred  season,  which  were  first 
erected  and  consecrated  in  paradise,  which  were  then  sur- 
rounded with  the  garb  of  ceremonies;  then  left  in  the  beauti- 
ful and  merciful  mantle  of  the  Savior;  and,  lastly,  committed 
to  us  as  a  pledge  and  foretaste  of  the  heavenly  state.  Yes, 
the  Sabbath  stretches  through  all  ages;  affects  all  men  in  ev- 
ery period  of  time;  distinguishes  the  true  servants  of  God  from 
the  wicked  more  than  any  other  ordinance;  upholds  the 
visible  profession  of  religion  before  the  eyes  of  mankind; 
keeps  up  the  face  and  aspect  of  Christianity  in  the  world; 
is  the  most  direct  honor  that  a  man  can  pay  to  the  name 
and  will  of  the  ever-blessed  God;  and  will  never  cease  in 
its  authority  here  till  our  Sabbaths  on  earth  give  place  to 
that  eternal  Sabbath  of  which  they  are  the  pledge,  the 
preparation,  the  end. 

*  Prov.  viii.  23—31. 


SERMOJV  II. 


THE  AUTHORITY  AND  DIGNITY  OF  THE  SABBATH 
UNDER  THE  LAW  OF  MOSES. 


Exodus  xx.  8 — 11. 

Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy.  Six  days 
shalt  thou  labor  and  do  all  thy  work:  but  the  seventh 
day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God:  in  it  thou 
shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daugh- 
ter, thy  man-servant,  nor  thy  maidservant,  nor  thy  cat- 
tle, nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates:  For  in 
six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea  and 
all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the  seventh  day;  ivhere- 
fore  the  Lord  blessed  the  Sabbath  day,  and  hallow- 
ed it. 

Having  proved  that  the  Sabbath  was  instituted  in  paradise 
by  adhering  simply  to  the  inspired  record,  and  having  si- 
lenced the  objection  raised  on  the  supposed  absence  of  any 
vestiges  of  its  observance  till  the  time  of  Moses;  we  come 
now  to  consider  the  position  which  it  held  under  the  cere- 
monial dispensation.  And  here  the  objection  to  its  divine  au- 
thority and  obligation  rests  on  its  being  merely  a  ceremonial 
and  temporary  appointment,  which  lost  its  force  with  the 
economy  which  gave  it  birth.  This  difficulty  has  already 
been  virtually  removed.  For  if  the  narration  in  the  book  of 
Genesis  is  correctly  given;  if  the  patriarchs  cannot  be 
proved  to  have  neglected  the  divine  command;  and  if  at  the 
6 


62  THE    SABBATH    UNDER   THE 

deliverance  from  Egypt,  Moses  clearly  referred  to  it  as 
not  effaced  from  the  memory  of  the  people;  then  the  Sab- 
bath did  not  owe  its  birth  to  the  ceremonial  law,  and  can- 
not have  ceased  by  the  abrogation  of  it.  But  this  is  little. 
As  we  not  only  answered  the  objection  advanced  against 
the  patriarchal  Sabbath,  but  triumphantly  established  its 
essential  dignity  and  perpetuity  from  the  glory  cast  upon  it 
by  the  order  of  creation;  so  we  hope,  not  merely  to  refute 
the  present  objection,  but  to  draw  from  the  law  of  Moses 
copious  materials  for  confirming  all  our  preceding  argu- 
ments, and  for  placing  in  a  yet  stronger  light  the  immuta- 
ble obligation  of  a  day  of  weekly  rest. 

We  assert,  then,  that  from  the  very  commencement  of 
the  Mosaical  economy,  the  fourth  command  was  incorpo- 
rated in  the  moral  law — that  when  the  ceremonial  usages 
were  in  their  greatest  vigor,  the  Sabbath  appeared  high 
and  distinct  above  them — and  that  in  the  latter  ages  of 
the  Jewish  church  it  was  insisted  on  by  the  prophets  as  of 
essential  moral  obligation,  and  as  about  to  form  a  part  of 
the  gospel  dispensation. 

I.  The  insertion  of  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  into  the 
decalogue  confirms  all  we  have  already  advanced,  and  af- 
fords the  most  decisive  proof  of  its  perpetual  force.  If 
there  were  nothing  else  in  the  whole  Bible,  this  would  be 
enough  to  satisfy  the  humble  Christian.  The  fourth  com- 
mandment is  just  as  binding  as  any  of  the  remaining  nine. 
There  it  is,  a  part  of  the  moral  law  of  God!  If  the  at- 
tempt to  feign  an  anticipated  history  was  proved  to  be  an 
invasion  on  the  first  principles  of  faith;  the  endeavor  to 
displace  the  fourth   commandment  is   an   open  invasion 

OF  THE  FIRST  PRINCIPLES  BOTH  OF  FAITH  AND  OBE- 
DIENCE. For  every  thing  conspires  to  cast  an  importance 
around  the  ten  commandments  peculiar  to  themselves. 

Consider  the  broad  line  of  demarcation  between 
them  and  the  ceremonial  usages.  The  decalogue  is  a 
summary  of  all  those  dictates  of  the  love  of  God  and  man, 
which  were  written  upon  the  heart  of  Adam  before  the  fall. 
These  commands  were  kept,  in  substance,  by  the  patri- 
archs before  they  were  reduced  into  a  code.  They  are 
the  eternal  rules  of  right  and  wrong,  resting  on  the  author- 
itative will  of  God,  and  arising  from  the  essential  relations 
in  which  man  stands  to  his  Creator  and  his  fellow-creatures. 


LAW    OF    MOSES.  63 

They  are  the  standard  of  human  obedience,  the  transcript  of 
the  divine  holiness.  The  unchanging  authority  of  these  pre- 
cepts is  the  foundation  of  the  Christian  religion,  the  rule  of 
domestic  life,  the  bond  of  civil  government,  the  grand  tie  and 
security  of  all  human  society.  Between  these  and  the  cer- 
emonial usages  there  is  a  vast  interval.  The  judicial  and 
ceremonial  law  was  temporary,  of  positive  enactment,  for 
a  time  and  for  certain  purposes  only;  had  no  existence  be- 
fore its  express  appointment;  derived  all  its  force  from 
something  substantial  and  glorious,  of  which  it  was  the 
shadow;  and  was  swept  away  and  abrogated  when  the 
more  perfect  dispensation  appeared.  All  its  enactments 
were  without  the  boundary  of  the  moral  law.  Within  that 
boundary  nothing  was  abolished  when  Christ  came;  with- 
out it,  every  thing.  Within  the  boundary  all  was  eternal 
and  immutable;  without  it,  all  was  temporary  and  change- 
able. No  confusion  was  ever  made  by  any  considerate 
Christian  on  this  subject.  The  conscience  of  man,  when 
duly  informed,  responds  to  every  one  of  the  moral  commands. 
The  additional  motives  appended  to  some  of  them,  arising 
from  the  circumstances  of  the  Jews,  affect  not  their  univer- 
sal authority.  The  particular  redemption  from  Egypt,  the 
length  of  days  attached  to  filial  obedience,  the  punishment 
of  idolatry  visited  on  the  third  and  fourth  generation,  and  the 
mercies  to  thousands  promised  to  the  keepers  of  the  divine 
law,*  in  no  respect  change  the  main,  grand,  distinctive 
foundations  of  moral  obligation  on  which  the  commandments 
repose.  These  constitute  a  code,  a  book,  which  stands 
distinct  and  separate  from  all  others,  which  is  divided  into 
two  tables,  and  has  been  known  in  all  ages  as  the  ''Ten 
Commandments,"  or  "The  Decalogue;"  just  as  the  books 
of  Scripture  are  distinguished  from  other  books  by  the  name 
of  "The  Bible." 

Now,  of  these  ten  commands  the  law  of  the  sab- 
bath IS  ONE.  Whatever  authority  any  have,  that  au- 
thority is  possessed  by  this.  Whatever  obligation  the  first, 
the  second,  the  third,  or  any  others  carry  with  them,  that 
same  obligation  carries  with  it  the  fourth.      If  men  are 


*  Even  these  are,  in  their  comprehensive  and  typical  import,  of  per* 
petuaJ  force — in  the  redemption  of  Christ,  the  spiritual  blessing  on  filial 
obedience,  &c. 


64  THE    SABBATH    UNDER    THE 

bound  in  every  age  and  under  all  dispensations  to  acknowl- 
edge one  only  God,*  to  worship  him,  not  with  graven  im- 
ages, but  in  spirit  and  in  truth,!  to  reverence  the  divine 
name,J  to  obey  their  parents,^  to  abstain  from  murder,[| 
adultery,ir  theft,**  false-witnessjll  concupiscence,J|:  they 
are  equally  bound  to  consecrate  a  Sabbath  to  their  Ma- 
ker's service,  after  six  days  of  ordinary  labor  and  toil.^^ 
This  proportion  of  time  had  been  made  known  to  man  in 
paradise,  and  published  in  the  very  order  of  creation.  The 
natural  and  essential  duty,  therefore,  of  devoting  some  time 
to  the  worship  of  God,  being  thus  expounded  by  a  revela- 
tion of  what  that  time  should  be,  the  whole  stands  a 
moral  and  unchanging  rule  of  man's  obedience.  As  the  first 
command  fixes  the  object  of  worship,  and  the  second  the 
MEANS,  and  the  third  the  reverential  manner,  so  the 
fourth  determines  the  time.  And  as  the  preceding  com- 
mands are  founded  in  the  real  relations  of  things,  and  made 
clear  to  us  by  the  authoritative  will  of  God,  so  the  fourth  is 
founded  on  the  real  relation  of  things,  and  made  clear  to  us 
by  the  authoritative  will  of  God.  The  only  difference  is, 
that  the  other  commands,  requiring  no  limitation  of  time, 
were  more  obvious  in  all  their  parts  to  the  consciences  of 
men,  whilst  this  depended,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
upon  the  revelation  of  God's  will  as  to  the  exact  proportion 
of  time  to  be  consecrated  to  his  service.  The  authority  of 
that  appointment,  however,  when  once  made  known,  is  as 
inviolable  as  any  of  the  others.  The  fourth  commandment 
is  an  integral  part  of  the  moral  law. 

And  now  let  us  advert  to  the  tenor  of  this  fourth  pre- 
cept. It  is  unlike  the  rest,  it  is  more  detailed,  more  ex- 
plicit, extended  to  more  classes  of  persons,  sustained  by 
more  reasons.  Its  introduction  also  is  difi(erent.  Instead 
of  a  mere  injunction  or  prohibition,  it  refers  to  a  preceding 
enactment,  "Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy;" 
as  if  on  purpose  to  connect  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  in  par- 
adise with  its  republication  at  the  solemn  establishment  of 
the  Mosaical  dispensation — a  design  which  is  made  yet  more 
apparent  at  the  close  of  the  commandment,  by  the  citation 
of  the  reason  given,  and  of  the  blessing  and  sanctification 

*  1st  Commandment.        t  2nd.         t  3rd.         §  5th.        ||  6th. 
1[  7th.       **  8th.       tt  9th.        tilOth.        §§  4th, 


LAW    OF    MOSES.  6^ 

Sittached  to  the  institution  by  the  Almighty,  when  he  first 
granted  a  day  of  rest  to  man  at  his  creation. 

Nor  is  THE  PLACE  which  this  fourth  precept  occupies  in 
the  decalogue  to  be  overlooked.  It  is  the  last  of  the  first 
table  of  the  law,  and  prepares  for  the  second.  It  is  the 
keeper  and  guardian  of  the  preceding  commands,  and  the 
preparation  for  the  following.  It  makes  the  three  first 
precepts  practicable.  For  after  faith  in  one  God,  worship 
to  him,  and  reverence  for  his  name,  it  prescribes  the  time 
in  which  this  pure  worship  of  the  only  true  God  is  to  be 
celebrated,  the  persons  who  are  to  unite  in  it,  and  the  in- 
terruption to  all  ordinary  labors  without  which  it  cannot  be 
performed.  So  that  as  the  tenth  commandment  shuts  up 
the  second  table,  and  reduces,  as  it  were,  its  injunc- 
tions to  practice,  by  forbidding  that  concupiscence  which 
would  infallibly  lead  to  their  violation;  so  the  fourth  accom- 
plishes the  first  table  by  assigning  the  time  and  season 
when  its  injunctions  may  be  fulfilled. 

We  must  not  pass  unnoticed,  also,  that  the  whole  moral 
law,  held  together,  as  it  were,  by  the  fourth  of  its  precepts, 

WAS    PUBLISHED    BERORE    THE    CEREMONIAL  ENACTMENTS 

of  Moses.  It  stands,  not  in  the  midst  of  the  ceremonies, 
but  distinct  and  separate  from  them.  The  Mosaical  law 
did  not,  properly  speaking,  begin  till  after  these  primary 
rules  of  obedience,  which  man  had  almost  lost  through  the 
corruption  of  his  nature  and  the  lapse  of  time,  were  restor- 
ed by  a  solemn  republication. 

Nor  can  it  be  said  with  truth,  that  the  law  of  the  Sab- 
bath is  merely  of  a  ceremonial  nature,  because  the  strict- 
ness OF  its  observation  was  relaxed  under  the 
New  Testament.  For  even  allowing  the  fact;  a  change 
in  the  tone  and  spirit  of  a  commandment,  springing  from  a 
more  benignant  dispensation,  affects  not  its  fundamental 
moral  authority.  But  we  deny  the  fact.  The  ceremonial 
and  judicial  enactments  which  were  afterwards  connected 
with  it,  form  no  part  of  the  fourth  commandment,  the  tenor 
of  which  was  always  intended  to  be  interpreted  according 
to  the  merciful  construction  which  our  Savior  put  upon  it, 
against  the  uncommanded  comments  of  the  Jewish  doctors. 
The  prohibition  of  doing  any  work  never  included,  nor  was 
intended  to  include,  acts  of  real  necessity  and  mercy.  The 
whole  moral  bearing  of  this  command  is  just  as  entire  now, 
6* 


66  THE    SABBATH  UNDER  THE 

as  the  whole  moral  bearing  of  any  other  of  the  divine  code. 
"I  will  have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice,"  was  an  axiom  of  the 
Mosaic,  as  well  as  the  Christian  economy,  as  will  be  seen 
in  our  next  discourse. 

It  is  painful  to  have  occasion  to  say  so  much  on  so  plain 
a  case;  and  nothing  but  the  great  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject would  warrant  such  a  detail.  The  fourth  command, 
then,  is  not  displaced  from  its  station,  nor  weakened  in  its 
authority  by  the  objection  we  have  been  considering.  On 
the  contrary,  every  aspect  in  which  it  is  viewed,  heightens 
our  conception  of  the  dignity  which  it  derives,  equally  with 
the  rest,  from  the  broad  line  of  demarcation  which  separates 
it  from  the  merely  ceremonial  observances. 

And  now  we  must  go  on  to   consider  the  solemnities 

WHICH    ATTENDED     THE     PROMULGATION    OF     THE    MORAL 

LAW,  of  which  the  fourth  command  is  so  distinguished  a 
part.  These  differed  from  the  majesty  which  accompanied 
the  first  institution  of  the  day  of  rest  in  Eden.  Then  it 
was  enregistered  in  the  bold  and  legible  characters  of  the 
six  days'  order  of  creation;  whilst  the  written  record  was 
brief  and  general.  Now  it  is  surrounded,  in  common  with 
the  remaining  elementary  branches  of  duty,  with  those 
traits  of  visible  glory,  that  awful  voice  of  words,  that  de- 
tailed record,  that  reference  to  a  preceding  enactment, 
those  reasons  of  universal  application,  which,  after  a  'lapse 
of  two  thousand  five  hundred  years,  were  best  adapted  to 
explain  its  import,  and  ensure  human  obedience  in  all  future 
periods  of  time.  The  moral  law  stands  singular  and  alone, 
amidst  the  revelations  made  to  Moses.  The  other  com- 
munications were  by  more  ordinary  and  usual  means;  the 
ten  commandments  by  the  immediate  voice  of  God.  The 
other  parts  of  the  Jewish  economy  were  conveyed  by  calm 
impressions;  this  by  thunderings  and  lightnings,  and  at- 
tendant angels,  and  the  trembling  mount,  and  the  dark- 
ness, and  all  the  terrors  at  which  Moses  "exceedingly  fear- 
ed and  quaked."  Recal  to  mind  the  solemn  scene,  that 
you  may  imbibe  the  full  dignity  of  all  the  precepts  of  the 
moral  law,  and  of  the  sabbatical  amongst  the  number. 
Hear;  the  trump  sounds,  and  the  voice  of  words  are  utter- 
ed. See;  no  one  but  the  holy  prophet  may  approach — "if 
so  much  as  a  beast  touch  the  mountain,  it  is  stoned  or  thrust 
through  with  a  dart."      Behold;  two  tables  of  stone   are 


LAW    OF    MOSES.  67 

prepared  by  the  Almighty  himself.  Upon  these  the  finger 
of  God  inscribes  "The  Ten  Commandments,"  and  addeth 
NO  MORE.  The  tables  are  broken  by  Moses  as  he  de- 
scends from  the  mount — and,  lo,  the  law  is  re-written  on 
second  tables  with  the  same  hand;  and  is  finally  deposited, 
not  with  the  rest  of  the  Mosaic  statutes,  but  separate  and 
alone,  within  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  Can  any  circum- 
stances impress  us  with  a  more  awful  sense  of  the  singular 
importance  of  every  precept?  Can  any  thing  more  distin- 
guish and  elevate  the  moral  and  perpetual,  above  the  tem- 
porary and  ceremonial  law — and  separate  and  single  out 
this  decalogue  in  point  of  dignity  and  prominence  from  all 
other  enactments?  The  whole  Bible  contains  nothing  so 
peculiar  and  majestic,  as  this  introduction  to  this  new  dis- 
pensation. Where  is  the  man  that  will  venture  to  lessen 
the  number  of  the  commandments?  Where  is  the  man 
that  from  ten  will  presume  to  reduce  them  to  nine?  Where 
is  the  Protestant  that  will  expunge,  with  the  Church  of 
Rome,  the  command  which  happens  most  to  militate  against 
his  corrupt  practices?*  Where  is  the  man  that  will  oblit- 
erate that  precept  especially,  which  so  immediately  re- 
spects the  honor  of  God  and  the  glory  offered  to  his 
name,  which,  standing  in  the  very  heart  of  the  code,  binds 
its  injunctions  together,  and  gives  strength  and  consistence 
to  the  whole? 

I  conceive  it  is  impossible  for  simple-minded  Christians 
to  consider  these  things,  and  not  to  see  at  once  the  marked 
distinction  between  the  shadow  and  types  of  a  particular 
dispensation,  and  the  eternal  rules  of  right  and  wrong. 
Their  prayer,  I  am  persuaded,  will  continue  to  be,  as  to 
each  particular  commandment,  and  as  to  the  fourth  no  less 
than  the  others,  "Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us,  and  in- 
cline our  hearts  to  keep  this  law;"  and  as  to  the  entire 
series,  without  exception  or  difference,  "Lord,  write  all 
these  thy  laws  on  our  hearts,  we  beseech  thee." 

II.  But  we  proceed  to  show,  that  even  when  the  cer- 
emonial    USAGES     WERE     IN     THEIR     GREATEST    VIGOR, 

THE  Sabbath    appeared    high    and  distinct    above 

THEM. 

*  The  Popish  catechisms  have  frequently  omitted  the  second  com- 
mandment) the  practice  may  now  be  discontinued  perhaps. 


68  THE    SABBATH    UNDER   THE 

For  the  law  of  the  weekly  rest  passes  through  the  Mosa- 
ical  dispensation.  It  will  be  important,  then,  to  show  its 
position  during  this  part  of  its  course.  It  entered  this  econ- 
omy, or  rather  proceeded  it,  by  the  promulgation  of  the 
moral  law,  of  whose  majesty  and  perpetuity  it  partakes. 
It  now,  however,  receives  additional  rules  and  appendages, 
which  attend  it  during  the  continuance  of  the  Mosaic  dis- 
pensation. But  it  is  remarkable  that  these  ceremonial  en- 
actments are  no  part  of  the  essential  law  of  the  Sabbath  as 
inserted  in  the  decalogue;  and  that  even  during  the  greatest 
vigor  and  first  observance  of  them,  the  moral  obligation  of 
the  day  of  weekly  rest  lifts  up  its  head  high  and  distinct 
above  them.  These  are  the  points  which  we  are  now  to  prove. 

For  the  Sabbath  is  now  a  part  of  that  preparatory  dis- 
pensation, and  is  attired  with  robes  of  state  and  ceremony 
during  that  period.  Two  Lambs  are  offered  on  its  weekly 
return,  beside  the  usual  burnt-offering;  the  shew-bread  is 
renewed  on  the  golden  table;  the  ministers  of  the  temple 
enter  on  their  courses;  other  times  of  holy  solemnity  are  in- 
stituted and  included  under  the  general  name  of  Sabbaths; 
its  external  rest  is  enforced  with  temporal  sanctions;  the 
presumptuous  violater  of  it  is  subjected  to  the  punishment  of 
death;  it  is  constituted  a  sign  of  the  national  covenant,  and 
is  enjoined  as  a  public  protest  against  idolatry;  finally,  the 
spirit  of  bondage  and  condemnation  lowers  over  this  part, 
as  over  every  other,  of  the  introductory  economy  of  Moses. 

Here,  then,  for  the  first  time,  we  recognize  the  features 
of  a  ceremonial  Sabbath.  Many  commandments  of  the 
decalogue,  and  the  fourth  amongst  the  number,  are  now 
invested  with  temporary  statutes,  as  ^'shadows  of  good 
things  to  come,"  or  parts  of  the  peculiar  theocracy  of  the 
Jews. 

But  the  essential  moral  character  of  each  precept  of  the 
decalogue  loses  none  of  its  force  by  its  ceremonial  and  judi- 
cial observances.  The  sin  of  worshipping  any  but  the  one 
true  God,  remains  just  as  great,  after  all  the  numerous  stat- 
utes peculiar  to  the  Jews.  The  sin  of  making  graven 
images,  of  taking  God's  name  in  vain,  of  disobeying  parents, 
of  committing  murder,  adultery,  theft,  of  bearing  false- 
witness,  of  coveting  the  goods  of  our  neighbor,  are  pre- 
cisely the  same  violations  of  the  immutable  rules  of  right 
and  wrong,  as  before  the  temporary  enactments  which  af- 


LAW    OF     MOSES.  69 

fected  the  chosen  people.  In  like  manner,  the  fourth  com- 
mandment is  unaltered  in  its  essential  injunction  of  a 
weekly  religious  rest  for  the  service  of  God,  though  it  is 
associated  with  many  temporary  and  figurative  appendages. 
Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  this.  The  principle  is  ad- 
mitted with  regard  to  nine  of  the  commandments,  and  can 
never  be  fairly  refused  as  to  the  tenth. 

And  accordingly  not  one  of  these  ceremonial  and  civil 
statutes  is  incorporated  in  the  ten  commandments  them- 
selves— not  one  is  written  with  the  finger  of  God — not 
one  is  found  on  the  consecrated  tables — not  one  is  deposit- 
ed within  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  They  are  all  delivered 
afterwards,  in  another  form,  with  other  views,  and  to  oc- 
cupy another  station. 

But  let  us  go  on  and  follow  the  Sabbath  as  it  passes 
through  the  ceremonial  dispensation.  It  might,  indeed, 
have  pleased  God,  that  it  should  have  been  entirely  shroud- 
ed by  this  dispensation  during  its  continuance.  It  would 
then  have  lost  none  of  its  original  force,  and  we  should 
merely  have  had  to  resume  our  consideration  of  it,  after  it 
had  been  disembarrassed  from  the  emblematical  ceremo- 
nies. But  this  is  not  the  state  of  the  case.  The  Sabbath 
lifts  up  its.  head  high  above  all  the  ceremonial  usages,  even 
in  the  Pentateuch  itself,  and  during"  the  full  vigor  of  the 
introductory  economy. 

For  first,  after  the  record  of  the  promulgation  of  the 
decalogue,  three  chapters  of  judicial  statutes  follow;  but 
in  the  midst  of  these,  the  people  are  reminded  of  the  es- 
sential importance  of  the  Sabbath,  in  a  manner  quite  dis- 
tinct and  peculiar.  It  is  associated  with  the  primary  duty 
of  worshipping  the  one  true  God,  as  of  equal  obligation, 
and  indeed  as  necessary  to  it.  "Six  days  shalt  thou  d^ 
thy  work,  and  on  the  seventh  thou  shalt  rest,  .  .  in  all 
things  that  I  have  said  unto  thee,  be  circumspect,  and 
make  no  mention  of  the  name  of  other  gods,  neither  let  it 
be  heard  out  of  thy  mouth."*  This  is  sufficiently  remark- 
able. 

Again,  after  six  chapters  more  concerning  the  tabernacle 
and  its  various  services  and  sacrifices,  the  whole  communi- 
catioD  of  the  forty  days'  abode  on  the  mount  is  concluded 

*  Exod.  xxiii.  12, 13. 


70  THE    SABBATH    UNDER    THE 

with  a  re-inculcation  of  the  Sabbath-rest,  in  a  manner  the 
most  solemn  and  affecting.  "And  the  Lord  spake  unto 
Moses  saying,  verily  my  Sabbath  ye  shall  keep;  for  it  is  a 
sign   between   me   and  you  throughout   your   generations, 

THAT  YE  MAY  KNOW  THAT  I  AM  THE  LoRD  THAT  DOTH 

SANCTIFY  YOU.  Ye  shall  keep  the  Sabbath,  therefore,  for  it 
is  holy  unto  you;  every  one  that  defileth  it  shall  surely  be 
put  to  death;  for  whosoever  doeth  any  work  therein,  that 
soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  among  his  people.  Six  days  may 
work  be  done;  but  in  the  seventh  is  the  Sabbath  of  rest, 
holy  to  the  Lord;  whosoever  doeth  any  work  in  the  Sab- 
bath-day, he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death.  Wherefore  the 
children  of  Israel  shall  keep  the  Sabbath,  to  observe  the 
Sabbath  throughout  their  generations,  for  a  perpetual  cov- 
enant. It  is  a  sign  between  me  and  the  children  of  Israel 
for  ever,  for  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth, 
and  on  the  seventh  day  he  rested  and  was  refreshed."* 
Can  any  thing  give  dignity  to  the  sacred  day  as  founded  in 
the  essential  relation  of  man  to  his  Maker  and  Redeemer, 
if  this  sublime  language  does  not.''  Every  idea  of  sanctifi- 
cation,  every  sense  of  importance  from  a  sign  of  a  covenant 
between  God  and  man,  every  sanction  derived  from  the 
awful  punishment  of  death,  unite  to  impress  upon  us  the 
duty;  whilst  the  proportion  noted  between  the  working  days 
and  the  day  of  rest,  and  the  reason  drawn  from  the  order 
of  creation,  extend  the  obligation  to  every  human  being. 

In  the  following  two  chapters  we  have  as  many  addi- 
tional recapitulations,  with  fresh  cautions.  The  book  of 
Exodus  closes.  The  enactments  concerning  sacrifices  and 
purifications  are,  however,  no  sooner  despatched  in  the  fol- 
lowing book,  than  we  meet  with  a  passage  in  which  one 
commandment  of  the  second  table  of  the  moral  law,  and 
two  of  the  first,  are  united  with  the  fourth  commandment 
as  of  equal  obligation,  and  this  as  a  matter  well  known 
and  requiring  no  explanation;  "Ye  shall  be  holy,  for  I  the 
Lord  your  God  am  holy.  Ye  shall  fear  every  man  his 
mother  and  his  father,  and  keep  my  Sabbaths;  I  am  the 
Lord  your  God.  Turn  ye  not  unto  idols,  nor  make  ta_ 
yourselves  molten  images;  I  am  the  Lord  your  God."t 

*  Exod.  xxxi.  12—17,  t  Lev.  xix.  1—4. 


LAW    OF      MOSES.  71 

I  will  not  dwell  on  other  passages  in  this  book.  I  has- 
ten to  fix  your  attention  on  the  punishment  of  death  inflict- 
ed on  the  Sabbath-breaker,  as  recorded  in  the  next.  Few 
persons  consider  how  deeply  this  case  is  designed  to  im- 
press us  with  the  essential  obligation  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, and  of  the  immediate  honor  of  God  involved  in 
a  presumptuous  violation  of  it.  This  last  point  is  not  to  be 
overlooked.  The  man  was  not  condemned  merely  for 
gathering  sticks  on  the  Sabbath;  but  for  doing  this  in  the 
face  of  the  divine  prohibition.  Accordingly  he  was  put  in 
ward,  till  the  will  of  God  should  be  distinctly  known. 
The  whole  proceeding  was  marked  with  a  calm  solemnity 
which  makes  the  warning  more  pointed  and  decisive.  The 
"soul  that  doeth  aught  presumptuously,  whether  he  be  born 
in  the  land  or  a  stranger,  the  same  reproacheth  the  Lord; 
and  that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  among  his  people;  be- 
cause he  hath  despised  the  word  of  the  Lord  and  hath 
broken  his  commandment,  that  soul  shall  be  utterly  cut  off, 
his  iniquity  shall  be  upon  him.  And  while  the  children  of 
Israel  were  in  the  wilderness,  they  found  a  man  that 
gathered  sticks  upon  the  Sabbath-day.  And  they  that 
found  him  gathering  sticks,  brought  him  unto  Moses  and 
Aaron,  and  unto  all  the  congregation.  And  they  put  him  in 
ward,  because  it  was  not  declared  what  should  be  done  to 
him.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  the  man  shall  be 
surely  put  to  death."* 

I  add  only  the  striking  passage,  in  which,  at  the  close 
of  life,  Moses  re-inculcates,  as  a  preacher,  the  command- 
ments which  he  had  delivered  before  as  a  legislator.  In 
this  recapitulation,  the  other  nine  precepts  of  the  deca- 
logue stand  as  they  were  first  promulgated  from  Mount 
Sinai — at  least,  the  variations  are  extremely  slight,  but 
the  fourth  is  amplified  and  enforced  with  many  additional 
motives,  as  if  it  claimed  more  regard  than  any  other. 
"Keep  the  Sabbath-day  to  sanctify  it,  as  the  Lord  thy 
God  commanded  thee:  six  days  thou  shalt  labor  and  do  all 
thy  work;  but  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord 
thy  God;  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy 
son,  nor  thy  daughter,  nor  thy  man-servant,  nor  thy  maid- 
servant, nor  thine  ox,  nor  thine  ass,  nor  any  of  thy  cattle, 

*  Numb.  XV.  30—35. 


72  THE    SABBATH    UNDER    THE 

nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates;  that  thy  man- 
servant and  thy  maid-servant  may  rest  as  well  as  thou. 
And  remember  thou  wast  a  servant  in  the  land  of  Egypt, 
and  that  the  Lord  thy  God  brought  thee  out  thence  through 
a  mighty  hand  and  a  stretched-out  arm;  therefore  the 
Lord  thy  God  commandeth  thee  to  keep  the  Sabbath-day."* 
What  a  distinction  does  this  amplitude  of  detail  confer  on 
the  law  of  the  Sabbath!  And  how  does  this  and  the 
passages  before  cited,  take  out  this  commandment  from 
the  mere  ceremonial  and  positive  institutions  with  which 
for  a  time  it  is  mingled,  and  lift  up  its  head  in  the  midst  of 
the  temporary  and  fugitive  elements  of  the  Jewish  polity! 
How  evidently  does  even  the  Pentateuch  exhibit  it  as  a 
moral  precept,  directed  to  the  highest  ends,  beyond  what 
was  peculiar  to  the  Mosaical  dispensation,  and  losing 
nothing  of  its  permanent  and  essential  force  from  the  com- 
bination! 

IIL  But  proceed  we  to  show  that,  in  the  latter  ages  of 
the  Jewish  church,  the  weekly  Sabbath  was  insisted  upon 

BY  THE  PROPHETS  AS  OP  ESSENTIAL  MORAL  OBLIGA- 
TION, AND  AS  DESTINED  TO  FORM  A  PART  OF  THE  GOS- 
PEL   DISPENSATION. 

Hitherto  the  objection  raised  against  the  perpetuity  of 
the  Sabbath  on  the  ground  of  its  being  a  merely  ceremo- 
nial enactment,  has  not  only  been  silenced,  but  refuted.  It 
is  a  constituent  part  of  the  moral  law:  to  call  it  a  mere 
ceremony,  is  to  sap  all  the  foundations  of  faith  and  obedience. 
During  the  vigor  of  the  ceremonial  usages,  it  lifts  up  its 
head  above  them,  and  is  enforced  as  of  moral  obligation: 
to  call  it  a  mere  ceremony,  is  to  be  ignorant  of  the  very 
first  facts  of  the  case. 

But  we  now  go  on  to  the  prophets,  the  reformers  of  the 
degenerate  people,  the  preachers  of  the  divine  will,  the 
seers  of  the  gospel  age,  the  assertors  of  the  moral  and 
eternal  rule  of  duty,  the  bold  proclaimers  of  the  law  of 
conscience  and  the  bonds  of  a  covenant  relation  with  God. 
If  they  are  found  to  urge  the  spiritual  observance  of  the 
day  of  rest,  as  designed  to  form  a  part  of  the  evangelical 
economy;  and  if  they  do  this  at  the  very  time  that  they 
cast  contempt  on  the  mere  outward  ceremonies  of  the  Jew- 

*  Deut.  V.  12—15. 


LAW     OF     MOSES.  73 

ish  law — if  they  are  found  to  denounce  the  divine  indigna- 
tion on  no  transgression,  except  idolatry,  with  so  much 
vehemence — and  if  they  appear  anxious  to  reform  the  man- 
ners of  the  people  in  this  capital  point  more  than  in  any 
other, — then  our  argument  gains  strength  at  every  step, 
and  the  divine  institution  will  stand  at  the  margin  of  the 
Christian  dispensation,  ready  to  enter  it,  in  common  with 
the  other  branches  of  essential  religion. 

Consider  then,  in  the  first  place,  the  language  of  the 
Book  of  Psalms,  and  observe  how  little  allusion  is  made 
to  the  ceremonial  rites  connected  with  the  Sabbath,  and 
how  completely  the  stress  is  laid  on  the  permanent  and 
spiritual  duties  of  that  holy  season.  The  Jewish  Sabbath 
was  indeed  now  in  force.  But  it  is  upon  the  praises  of 
God  generally — his  glory,  his  majesty,  his  compassion,  his 
providence,  his  redemption,  that  the  Psalmist  dwells. 
"One  thing  have  I  desired  of  the  Lord,  that  will  I  seek 
after,  that  I  may  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  all  the 
days  of  my  life,  to  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  and  to 
inquire  in  his  temple.  .  .  How  amiable  are  thy  tabernacles, 
O  Lord  of  hosts,  my  soul  longeth,  yea,  even  fainteth  for 
the  courts  of  the  Lord,  my  heart  and  my  flesh  crieth  out 
for  the  living  God  ...  I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto 
me,  Let  us  go  unto  the  house  of  the  Lord."* 

These  are  detached  passages.  In  the  92nd  Psalm  we 
have  an  express  hymn  or  song  for  the  Sabbath-day,  the 
topics  of  which  are  spiritual,  and  not  ceremonial.  First, 
the  praises  of  God  are  enjoined,  which  are  the  proper  busi- 
ness of  the  Sabbath;!  then  the  wonders  of  God  in  crea- 
tion, the  very  reason  for  the  institution;!  next,  the  dealings 
of  the  divine  providence  in  the  overthrow  of  the  wicked  ;§ 
and  lastly,  the  operations  of  grace  in  the  fruitfulness,  even 
to  old  age,  of  those  who  ''are  planted  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord."|| 

Contrast  with  this  the  language  of  the  50th  Psalm,  in 
which  a  marked  disregard  is  shown  for  mere  ceremonies: 
"I  will  not  reprove  thee  for  thy  sacrifices  or  thy  burnt*- 
offerings  to  have  been  continually  before  me.  I  will  take 
no  bullock  out  of  thy  house,  nor  he  goats  out  of  thy  folds. 

*  Psalm  xxvii.  84, 120.  t  Ver.  1—3.  |  Ver.  4,  5. 

§  Ver.  6—11.  II  Ver.  12-15. 

7 


74  THE    SABBATH    UNDER    THE 

For  every  beast  of  the  forest  is  mine,  and  the  cattle  upon 
a  thousand  hills.  I  know  all  the  fowls  of  the  mountains 
and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  field  are  mine.  If  I  were  hun- 
gry, I  would  not  tell  thee,  for  the  world  is  mine  and  the 
fulness  thereof.  Will  1  eat  the  flesh  of  bulls  or  drink  the 
blood  of  goats,  &lc.  ?"  In  this  denunciation,  you  will  ob- 
serve that  nothing"  is  included  which  in  the  least  belongs  to 
the  essential  matters  extolled  in  the  former  Psalms. 

In  like  manner,  with  what  holy  indignation  does  the- 
prophet  Isaiah  reject  the  mere  outward  observan- 
ces of  the  Jewish  law:  ^'to  what  purpose  is  the  multitude 
of  your  sacrifices  unto  me.''  saith  the  Lord;  I  am  full  of  the 
burnt-offerings  of  rams,  and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts;  and  I 
delight  not  in  the  blood  of  bullocks,  or  of  lambs,  or  of  he- 
goats.  Bring  no  more  vain  oblations;  incense  is  an  abomi- 
nation unto  me;  the  new  moons  and  Sabbaths,  the  calling 
of  assemblies,  I  cannot  away  with;  it  is  iniquity,  even  the 
solemn  meeting.  Your  new  moons  and  your  appointed 
feasts  my  soul  hateth,  they  are  a  trouble  to  me,  I  am 
weary  to  bear  them."*  In  this  vehement  expostulation 
the  Sabbaths,  including  that  of  the  weekly  rest,  are  swept 
away,  when  superstitiously  relied  on,  in  one  common  repro- 
bation. 

But  with  what  earnestness,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  due 
celebration  of  the  sabbath  extolled  in  the  subse- 
quent chapter — how  is  it  placed  on  a  level  with  the  plain,- 
EST  MORAL  PRECEPTS — how  is  the  not  polluting  of  it  made 
the  principal  thing  that  pleases  God — and   how  are   the 

LARGEST    PROMISES    OF    THE    EVANGELICAL  DISPENSATION 

connected  with  such  a  spiritual  consecration  of  the  holy-day! 
^'Blessed  is  the  man  that  doeth  this,  and  the  son  of  man 
that  layeth  hold  on  it;  that  keepeth  the  Sabbath  from  pol- 
luting it,  and  keepeth  his  hand  from  doing  any  evil."  Here 
the  observation  of  the  weekly  day  of  rest  is  spoken  of  as 
a  great  part  of  holiness  of  life,  and  is  placed  among  moral 
duties.  The  prophet  proceeds,  neither  let  the  son  of  the 
stranger  that  hath  joined  himself  to  the  Lord,  speak,  say- 
ing, the  Lord  hath  utterly  separated  me  from  his  people; 
neither  let  the  eunuch  say,  behold  I  am  a  dry  tree.  For 
thus  saith  the  Lord  unto  the   eunuchs   that  keep  my  Sab- 

*  Isaiah  i.   11— U. 


LAW    OF      MOSES.  75 

baths  and  do  the  things  that  please  me,  and  take  hold  of 
my  covenant.     Even  unto  them  will  I  give  in   mine  house 
and  within  my  walls,  a  name   better  than  of  sons   and  of 
daughters.     I  will   give   them  an   everlasting   name,  that 
shall  not  be  cut  off."     The  prophet  is  here  speaking  of  the 
gospel    age,   when   the  ceremonial    law    which    prohibited 
eunuchs  from   coming   into  the  congregation   of  the  Lord, 
shall  be  abolished;  yet  the  eunuchs,  when   thus   at   liberty 
from  the  law  of  ceremonies,  are   described   as   being   still 
under  an  obligation  to  keep  the  Sabbath.     Nay,  they  are 
directed  to  use  this  very  method  of  obtaining  a  share  in  the 
blessings  of  Messiah's  kingdom.     And  so  with  regard  to 
the  Gentiles  generally,  here  called    strangers;  "also  the 
sons  of  the  stranger  that  join  themselves   to   the  Lord,  to 
serve  him  and  to  love  the  name  of  the  Lord,  to  be  his  ser- 
vants, every  one  that  keepeththe  Sabbath  from  polluting  it, 
and  taketh  hold  of  my  covenant;"  where  we   notice  again, 
that  the  sanctification  of  the   Sabbath  is  put   on   the  same 
footing  with  theJaying  hold  of  God's  covenant,  the  serving 
the  Lord,  the  loving  the  name  of  the  Lord,  the   being   his 
servants — and   is  indeed    described    as   the  main  proof  of 
all  those  parts  of  essential  piety.     The  prophet  then  adds 
this  evangelical  promise,  which  by  our  Lord's  own  citation 
is  predictive  of  the  gospel-state — "Even  them  will  1  bring 
to  my  holy  mountain,  and  make  them  joyful  in  my  house  of 
prayer;  their  burnt  offerings  and  their  sacrifices  shall  be  ac- 
cepted upon  mine  altar;  for  mine   house  shall  be  called  an 
house  of  prayer  for  all  people."     The   Gentiles,  then,  who 
shall  be  called  in  the  times  of  the  gospel,  will  be  under  the 
same  duty   of   keeping   the    Sabbath;    and  shall   thus  be 
made  "joyful   in  that  house  of  prayer"  which  is   destined 
for  all  people.     All  this  falls  in  exactly  with    another  pre- 
diction of  the  same  inspired  writer,  the  language  being  still 
in  the  terms  of  the  dispensation  then  prevailing.     "It  shall 
come  to  pass  that  from  one  new  moon  to  another,  and  from 
one  Sabbath  to   another,   shall  all   flesh  come  to   worship 
before   me,   saith   the  Lord;"  which  has   constantly  been 
fulfilling   in   the   Christian  church,  when  all  flesh  have 
worshipped  before  the  Lord  in  that  weekly  day  of  religious 
rest  into  which  the  Jewish  new  moons  and  sabbatical  peri- 
ods have  subsided.     Add  to  this  the  description  which  the 
jame  divine  author  gives  of  the  duties  of  the  Sabbath.  They 


76  THE    SABBATH    UNDER   THE 

have  so  clearly  a  moral  obligation  and  universal  force,  and 
involve  atone  of  devotion  so  elevated,  that  we  may  truly  say. 
If  the  Sabbath  be  a  ceremony,  we  have  lost  under  the  gos- 
pel one  of  the  brightest  glories  of  revelation.  "If  thou 
turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  Sabbath,  from  doing  thy  pleas- 
ure on  my  holy  day,  and  call  the  Sabbath  a  delight,  holy 
of  the  Lord,  honorable,  and  shalt  honor  him,  not  doing 
thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine  own  pleasure,  nor  speaking 
thine  own  words;  then  shalt  thou  delight  thyself  in  the 
Lord,  &c."* 
But  we  pass  from  this  class  of  passages,  to  notice  those 

DENUNCIATIONS  OF  THE  SIN    OF  VIOLATIJVG   THE    SABBATH, 

which  are  only  surpassed  by  the  anger  of  the  Almighty 
against  idolatry  itself,  with  which,  indeed,  it  seems  ever  to 
have  had  a  close  affinity.  We  have  already  noticed  the 
sentence  executed  early  in  the  history  of  the  sacred  peo- 
ple on  the  presumptuous  sabbath-breaker.  But  hear  the 
prophet  Jeremiah:  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Take  heed  to 
yourselves  and  bear  no  burden  on  the  Sabbath-day,  nor 
bring  it  in  by  the  gates  of  Jerusalem:  neither  carry  forth 
a  burden  out  of  your  houses  on  the  Sabbath-day,  neither  do 
ye  any  work,  but  hallow  ye  the  Sabbath-day,  as  I  com- 
manded your  fathers.  But  they  obeyed  not,  neither 
inclined  their  ear,  but  made  their  neck  stiff  that  they 
might  not  hear  nor  receive  instruction.  But  if  ye  will 
not  hearken  unto  me — ^^then  will  I  kindle  a  fire  in  the  gates 
thereof,  and  it  shall  devour  the  palaces  of  Jerusalem,  and 
it  shall  not  be  quenched,  "f  -A^^  the  prosperity  of  the  na- 
tion, all  the  favor  of  God  is  suspended  on  this  one  branch 
of  moral  obedience.  To  judge  of  the  force  of  this,  con- 
trast it  with  the  same  prophet's  declaration  concerning 
ceremonial  observances:  "for  I  spake  not  unto  your  fathers, 
nor  commahded  them  in  the  day  that  I  brought  them  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt  concerning  burnt-offerings  or  sacrifices. 
But  this  one  thing  commanded  I  them,  saying,  obey  my 
voice,  and  I  will  be  your  God,  and  ye  shall  be  my  people. "J 
Again,  mark  how  the  prophet  Amos  reproaches  the  de- 
generate people  with  an  impatience  of  the  holy  services  of 
the  Sabbath  and  other  festivals:  "Hear  this,  O  ye  that 
swallow  up  the  needy,  even  to  make  the  poor  of  the  land  to 

*  Isaiah  Iviii.  10, 13.  t  Jer.  xvii.  19—27. 

t  Jer.  vii.  22,  23. 


LAW    OF    MOSES.  77 

fail,  saying,  When  will  the  new  moon' be  gone  that  we  maj 
sell  corn,   and  the  Sabbath  that  we  may  set  forth  wheat!* 

The  prophet  Ezekiel  follows.  He  lived  later  than  Jer- 
emiah and  Amos.  The  Babylonish  captivity  had  now  be- 
gun; and  the  peculiar  aggravation  of  the  people's  sins  is 
represented  to  be  their  profanation  of  the  Sabbath:  "More- 
over, I  gave  them  my  Sabbaths  to  be  a  sign  between  me 
and  them,  that  they  might  know  that  I  am  the  Lord  that 
sanctify  them.  But  the  house  of  Israel  rebelled  against 
me;  my  Sabbaths  they  greatly  polluted:  then  I  said,  I  will 
pour  out  my  fury  upon  them  in  the  wilderness  to  con- 
sume them."  The  charge  is  repeated  again  and  again  in 
the  course  of  the  expostulation,  and  is  connected  with  the 
sin  of  idolatry  and  of  direct  contempt  of  the  majesty  of  the 
Lord:  "They  despised  my  judgments  and  walked  not  in 
my  statutes,  but  polluted  my  Sabbaths;  for  their  heart  went 
after  their  idols. ""f  Similar  charges  are  reiterated  in  sub- 
sequent chapters  of  this  and  the  other  prophets,  and  like 
threatenings  denounced. 

And  what  was  the  particular  reformation  which 
Ezra,  and  Nehemiah,  and  the  prophets  after  the  captivity, 
were  most  anxious  to  effect  upon  the  first  return  of  the  peo- 
ple from  Babylon.'*  We  are  now  come  to  the  last  trace  of 
prophetical  revelation.  The  Old  Testament  canon  is  clos- 
ing. What  do  the  last  inspired  teachers  and  leaders  tes- 
tify.? What  was  their  chief  care.?  What  their  main 
object?  Was  it  not  to  restore  the  house  of  God's  wor- 
ship? to  rebuild  the  temple.?  to  recal  the  people  to  the 
sanctrty  of  the  Sabbath?  I  omit  other  points,  to  exhibit 
the  noble  conduct  of  Nehemiah  when  he  found  the  men  of 
Tyre  bringing  fish  and  selling  it  on  the  sacred  day.  Mark 
his  warmth  of  reproach.  Observe  his  appeal  to  the  past 
history  of  the  nation.  Notice  that  the  whole  transaction 
rests,  not  on  any  ceremonial  rite  omitted  or  despised,  but 
on  the  violation  of  the  grand  fundamental  duty  of  the  relig- 
ious rest  of  God.  "In  those  days  saw  I  in  Judah,  some 
treading  wine-presses  on  the  Sabbath,  and  bringing  in 
sheaves,  and  lading  asses;  as  also  wine,  grapes,  and  figs, 
and  all  manner  of  burdens,  which  they  brought  into  Jeru- 
salem on  the  Sabbath-day;  and  I  testified  against  them  in 

*  Amos  viii.  11.  t  Ezek.  xx.  12, 13, 16. 


78  ,    THE    SABBATH    UNDER   THE 

the  day  wherein  they  sold  victuals.  There  dwelt  men  of 
Tyre  also  therein,  which  brought  fish  and  all  manner  of  >vare, 
and  sold  on  the  Sabbath  unto  the  children  of  Judah  and  in 
Jerusalem.  Then  I  contended  with  the  nobles  of  Judah, 
and  said  unto  them,  What  evil  thing  is  this  that  ye  do,  and 
profane  the  Sabbath-day?  Did  not  your  fathers  thus,  and 
did  not  our  God  bring  all  this  evil  upon  us,  and  upon  this 
city?  yet  ye  bring  more  wrath  upon  Israel  by  profaning  the 
Sabbath.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  gates  of 
Jerusalem  began  to  be  dark  before  the  Sabbath,  I  com- 
manded that  the  gates  should  be  shut,  and  charged  that 
they  should  not  be  opened  till  after  the  Sabbath;  and  some 
of  my  servants  set  I  at  the  gates,  that  there  should  no 
burden  be  brought  in  on  the  Sabbath-day.  And  I  com- 
manded the  Levites  that  they  should  cleanse  themselves, 
and  that  they  should  come  and  keep  the  gates,  to  sanctify 
the  Sabbath-day."* 

Thirty  or  forty  years  after  this,  the  prophet  Mala- 
CHi  utters  the  last  predictions,  and  gives  the  last  warnings, 
before  the  coming  of  Messiah.  And  on  what  does  he  so 
much  insist,  as  on  the  contempt  into  which  the  ordinances 
of  God  were  sunk,  and  on  the  indignation  of  the  Almighty 
which  was  about  to  follow?  They  "offered  polluted  bread." 
No  one  would  "shut  the  temple-doors  for  nought."  They 
said,  "The  table  of  the  Lord  is  contemptible."  They 
said,  "Behold,  what  a  weariness  is  it!"  "And  ye  have 
snuffed  at  it,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  "Ye  have  said.  It 
is  vain  to  serve  God,  and  what  profit  is  it  that  we  have 
kept  his  ordinances."  "Therefore,"  adds  the  prophet, 
"the  day  cometh  that  shall  burn  as  an  oven;  and  all  the 
proud,  and  they  that  do  wickedly  shall  be  as  stubble. "| 

Such  is  the  estimate  which  we  are  led  to  form  of  the  es- 
sential moral  character  of  the  law  of  the  Sabbath,  from  a 
review  of  every  part  of  the  Old  Testament.  More  than 
three  thousand  six  hundred  years  since  the  first  Sabbath 
have  now  elapsed.  The  sacred  institution  stands  on  the 
margin  of  the  New  Testament  dispensation.  We  naturally 
inquire,  then,  what  we  might  expect  to  be  its  dignity,  if  we 
find  nothing  directly  to  the  contrary,  in  the  kingdom  of  Mes- 
siah?    It  derived  not  its  authority  from  the   Levitical  law, 

■'  Nehemiah  xiii.  15,  21,  22.        t  Mai.  i.  6,  7,  IS;  iii.  14j  iv.  1.      • 


LAW    OF    MOSES.  79  . 

it  could  lose,  therefore,  none  of  its  sanctity  by  the  abroga- 
tion of  it.  The  same  respect  would  be  due  to  it  as  before 
that  intervening  dispensation.  Whatever  the  Sabbath  was 
when  it  entered  the  Mosaic  ritual,  that  would  it  be  when 
it  came  from  it.  The  cessation  of  the  ceremonial  law 
would  no  more  release  the  worshipper  of  God  from  the  ob- 
servation of  a  weekly  rest,  than  it  would  cancel  the  in- 
junction of  filial  piety,  or  the  prohibition  of  theft,  murder, 
adultery,  false  witness,  or  concupiscence.  The  importance 
of  all  we  have  been  considering  is  in  this  view  very  mate- 
rial. We  have  shown  its  divine  institution  in  paradise,  the 
traces  of  its  observance  during  the  patriarchal  ages,  its 
re-enactment  in  the  wilderness  before  the  Mosaical  econo- 
my, at  the  miraculous  fall  of  manna.  We  have  also  noti- 
ced its  solemn  incorporation  in  the  ten  commandments — the 
awful  glories  of  that  promulgation — its  dignity  above  all 
the  ceremonies  of  the  Jewish  religion — its  essential  and 
perpetual  obligation  as  inculcated  by  the  prophets,  and  des- 
tined to  form  a  part  of  the  gospel  age.  It  comes  forth, 
therefore,  from  the  hand  of  Moses  with  all  its  pristine  au- 
thority, which  it  had,  in  fact,  never  lost  as  to  any  portion 
of  the  human  race,  except  as  the  corruption  of  man  had 
perverted  or  forgotten  the  original  institution. 

Nay,  it  enters  the  gospel  dispensation  with  more  than 
its  patriarchal  majesty  and  obligation.  It  has  been  accu- 
mulating, not  diminishing,  its  claims  upon  men,  by  all  the 
testimonies  to  its  essential  importance  which  Moses  and  the 
prophets  gave.  It  has  acquired  new  force,  new  evidence, 
new  illustration,  by  its  position  under  an  economy  which,  if 
it  had  been  merely  a  ceremony,  would  have  buried  it  amid 
a  thousand  surrounding  rites. 

The  gospel  will,  therefore,  we  may  conclude,  secure  to 
the  original  institution  of  the  Sabbath  more  ample  scope, 
higher  obligations,  and  a  more  elevated  position  of  dignity 
and  importance.  The  gospel  is  the  last  and  most  perfect 
dispensation, —  the  completion  of  all  the  preceding,  the 
time  of  enlarged  privilege,  of  superabundant  grace!  If, 
therefore,  a  weekly  day  of  repose  and  religious  worship 
was  granted  to  the  saints  of  the  patriarchal  dispensations 
— and  if  even  under  the  law  of  bondage  this  blessing  was 
continued  to  the  Jew,  much  more  will  it  be  vouchsafed  to 
the  Christian, — much  more  will  it  accompany  'Hhe  law  of 


so  l"JHf:    SABBATH    UNliER   THIS 

liberty."  We  may  be  sure  that  the  boon  is  not  revoked; 
we  may  be  sure  that  man  is  not  doomed  now  to  seven  days' 
labor  instead  of  six;  we  may  be  sure  tliat  his  time  for 
worshipping-  God  is  not  abridged,  nor  the  pledge  of  the 
covenant  of  grace  lessened  and  restrained. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  Sabbath  had  been  increasing 
in  its  moral  influence  upon  man  from  the  first  institution. 
Every  fresh  motive  to  the  love  of  God,  every  ray  of  glory 
from  Mount  Sinai,  every  prophecy  of  a  future  Savior,  had 
been  augmenting  proportionably  his  duty,  by  affording  him 
more  copious  aids  in  fulhlling  it.  Christians,  then,  being 
favored  with  a  clearer  knowledg-e  of  the  divine  will,  havinsT 
more  motives  to  love  and  serve  God,  having  a  more  abun- 
dant effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  than  under  any  preceding 
period,  we  may  be  sure  that  their  character  will  be  supe- 
rior, their  delight  in  the  worship  of  God  more  warm,  their 
celebration  of  God's  praises  in  creation  and  redemption 
proportionably  more  fervent.  Yet,  if  a  sabbatical  institu- 
tion is  not  binding  upon  Christians,  we  must  reverse  the 
supposition.  We  must  forget  the  devotion  of  the  patri- 
archs, the  spiritual  fervor  of  the  psalmist,  the  zeal  for  the 
Sabbath  which  animated  Nehemiah  and  Ezra,  the  delight 
in  its  duties  foretold  by  Isaiah  as  marking  the  gospel  age; 
and  the  Christian  must  take  his  station  below  the  Jew  in 
spirituality  and  love.  But  this  can  never  be  the  case.  We 
may  conclude  that  if  one  day  in  seven  was  the  measure 
imder  more  imperfect  dispensations,  a  less  term  cannot  suf- 
fice under  the  influence  of  so  many  motives  and  induce- 
ments to  a  higher  degree  of  love    in   the  worship  of  God.* 

We  shall  want,  therefore,  no  enactment,  no  express  com- 
mand in  the  New  Testament.  Things  will  go  on  as  they 
did  before  the  Mosaic  economy,  except  as  a  richer  effusion 
of  grace  will  render  the  Sabbath  a  more  delightful  season 
of  repose  than  in  the  preceding  ages.  The  worship  of  the 
New  Testament  will  be,  we  may  conclude,  a  restoration  of 
the  patriarchal  in  its  primitive  simplicity  and  purity,  dropping 
the  incumbrances  imposed  during  the  time  of  the  law,  and 
acquiring  all  the  new  influence  and  obligations  which  the 
infinite  benefits  of  the  gospel  confer. 

*  Archdeacon  Pott. 


LAW    OF    MOSES.  81 

And  thus,  as  the  patriarchal  sacrifices  passed  on  into 
the  passover  and  numerous  offerings  of  the  law  during  the 
term  of  that  intervening  dispensation,  and  then  emerged 
in  the  simple  evangelical  supper  of  our  Lord — as  the  patri- 
archal circumcision  reserved  its  rites  during  the  same  econ- 
omy, and  then  yielded  to  the  sacrament  of  baptism — as  the 
patriarchal  institution  of  marriage,  suspended  on  account  of 
the  hardness  of  the  people's  hearts  during  the  Jewish  age, 
was  re-established  and  came  to  its  full  effect  in  the  Chris- 
tian law  of  marriage, — so  the  patriarchal  day  of  rest,  with 
its  worship  of  God,  its  celebration  of  the  wonders  of  cre- 
ation, and  its  provision  for  the  religious  repose  of  man, 
after  having  been  annexed  for  a  period  to  the  national  cov- 
enant of  the  Jews,  was  restored  to  its  first  design  in  the 
Christian  Sabbath. 

A  re-enactment  in  the  New  Testament  would  be  a  de- 
nial, by  implication,  of  its  previous  institution  and  author- 
ity. Nothing  is  re-enacted  in  the  gospel.  The  moral 
law,  the  essential  duties  of  religion,  the  relations  of  man 
to  his  Maker  and  Benefactor,  the  necessity  of  a  season  for 
divine  worship,  the  proportion  of  time  destined  for  it  from 
the  creation,  all  the  precepts  of  the  decalogue — remain  un- 
changed. They  are  not  again  formally  promulgated. 
Creation  and  Mount  Sinai  suffice.  They  go  on  of  course, 
and  the  Sabbath  with  them,  if  no  express  and  formal  abro- 
gation of  it  be  found  in  the  gospel. 

But  we  are  anticipating  our  next  discourse.  Our  object 
is  merely  to  bring  up  the  sabbatical  rest  to  the  threshhold 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  to  leave  it  there,  ready  to 
enter. 

Let  us  then  turn  from  these  discussions  to  some  practical 
points  which  may  affect  our  hearts. 

1.  Let  us  learn  to  give  to  the  holy  day  of  rest  that 
PROMINENCY  IN  OUR  ESTEEM  which  Moscs  was  instructed 
to  give  it  in  his  dispensation.  Christian  brethren,  let  the 
gospel  be  as  influential  upon  us  to  observe  the  day  of  rest 
and  holy  worship,  as  the  law  was  of  old.  Let  not  the 
Sabbath  be  sunk  amidst  external  observances,  ordinary 
rites,  an  outward  adherence  to  a  national  creed,  the  com- 
mon decencies  of  religion.  Let  it  be  exalted  and  placed 
aloft  as  the  Queen  of  days.  Let  the  admiration  of  the 
Jew,  blind  as  it  often  was,  be  a  stimulus  to  the  more  en- 


82  THE    SABBATH    UNDER    THE 

lightened  devotion  of  the  Christian.  Let  the  mercies  of 
God  in  the  redemption  from  the  Egyptian  captivity,  which 
bound  with  additional  motives  the  Sabbath  upon  the  ancient 
people,  teach  us  how  the  mercies  of  a  spiritual  redemption 
from  sin  and  death  should  bind  on  us  the  sanctification  of 
that  day  when  they  are  especially  celebrated.  Let  the 
perpetual  inculcation  of  this  duty  by  Moses,  on  all  occa- 
sions, in  every  connection,  by  every  species  of  motive,  lead 
us  to  urge  it  upon  our  children  and  households  on  every  fit 
opportunity.  Let  the  solemn  promulgation  of  it  in  "The 
Ten  Commandments"  be  the  rallying  point  of  all  our  ar- 
guments, and  the  brief  and  conclusive  evidence  of  the  per- 
petuity of  the  institution. 

IL  And  to  this  end  let  us  imbibe  the  spirit  of 
LOVE  AND  DELIGHT  in  the  worsliip  of  God,  which  the 
Psalms  and  Prophets  display.  We  never  can  imitate  the 
earnestness  of  Moses,  nor  place  the  Sabbath  on  the  prom- 
inency where  he  exhibits  it,  unless  we  join  to  it  the  holy 
David's  love  to  God,  and  the  sublime  Isaiah's  spiritual  joy 
in  his  service.  O,  how  much  are  our  Sabbaths,  practically 
speaking,  below  those  of  the  saints  of  old.  How  much  is 
our  repose  of  soul  in  God,  our  fainting  of  heart  after  his 
courts,  our  view  of  the  happiness  which  religion  communi- 
cates, inferior  to  the  feelings  which  these  holy  men  expe- 
rienced! Let  us  pray,  let  us  seek  for  such  a  spiritual  state 
of  heart,  for  such  a  real  choice  and  preference  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  such  a  delight  in  the  contemplation  of  his 
glory  in  creation,  providence,  and  redemption,  as  may  en- 
large our  hearts  and  "lift  them  up  in  the  ways  of  the 
Lord;"  as  may  render  the  Sabbath  a  delight,  as  may 
surround  it  with  the  honor  and  esteem  which  are  its  due, 
and  make  "one  day  in  God's  courts  better  than  a  thou- 
sand." Then,  then  should  we  indeed  sanctify  our  Sab- 
baths. Then  would  disputes  soon  cease.  Then  should  we 
abstain  naturally  and  with  choice,  from  "doing  our  own 
ways,  finding  our  own  pleasure,  or  speaking  our  own 
words."  And  what,  indeed,  does  the  love  of  our  Savior 
Christ,  and  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit  do  for  us,  if  they 
do  not  raise  us  out  of  the  world,  and  unite  us  with  the  spir- 
itual church  in  religious  adoration?  This  is  the  secret 
of  true  religion.  It  reigns  by  love,  it  subdues  by  the  sense 
of  benefits,  it  calms  and  purifies  the  soul,  it  turns  the  cur- 


LAW    OF    MOSES.  83 

rent  of  the  affections  towards  God,  it  pays  cheerfully  and 
with  delight  the  tribute  of  one  day  in  seven,  as  the  Lord's 
portion  and  share  out  of  man's  time  and  efforts,  and  for  the 
training  and  discipline  of  the  soul  for  an  eternity  of  worship 
in  heaven. 

III.  But  add  to  these  motives  the  awful  indigna- 
tion of  Almighty  God  against  the  contempt  of  his  name 
and  his  day.  Judge  from  the  terrors  of  Mount  Sinai  and 
the  denunciations  of  the  prophets  against  the  sin  of  pol- 
luting the  Sabbath,  what  is  the  esteem  in  which  the  Lord 
holds  it.  I  would  urge  upon  my  own  conscience,  and  that  of 
others,  the  guilt  of  that  weariness  in  the  service  of  God, 
that  contempt  and  neglect  of  its  spiritual  benefits,  that  in- 
ward disgust  and  pride  which  harden  the  heart  against 
penitence  and  a  return  to  God,  that  conceit  and  self-reli- 
ance and  self-satisfaction  which  engender  dislike  for  divine 
worship  and  religious  repose.  I  would  urge  the  criminality, 
the  peculiar  criminality,  under  the  spiritual  dispensation  of 
the  New  Testament,  of  those  sins  which  Moses  and  the 
prophets  condemned  with  so  much  vehemence  under  the  less 
perfect  economy  of  the  law.  The  greater  ease  and  liberty  of 
the  gospel  and  our  freedom  from  the  bond  of  ceremonies,  only 
augment  the  guilt  of  that  enmity  against  the  holy  nature  and 
blessed  will  of  God,  from  which  contempt  of  his  worship 
springs.  We  have  now  no  multiplied  festivals  to  observe, 
no  diflScult  and  expensive  offerings  to  present,  no  perpetual 
oblations  to  go  through  with,  no  sabbatical  years  to  ob- 
serve. The  simple  and  noble  worship  and  repose  of  one 
day  in  seven  is  what  God  commands— or  rather  grants 
us  as  a  boon — and  only  enjoins  when  we  refuse  thus  to  re- 
ceive it. 

Awaken,  then,  Christian  brethren,  from  the  torpor  and 
Jukewarmness  which  too  much  mark  the  age  in  which  we 
live.  A  philosophic  conceit,  the  pride  of  intellect,  indiffer- 
ence to  truth,  a  selfish  calculating  love  of  ease  and  indul- 
gence, a  blindness  to  the  magnitude  and  dignity  of  the  claims 
of  our  invisible  Benefactor — these  are  our  sins — and  these 
were  the  sins  of  the  days  of  Ezekiel  and  Malachi  under 
the  old  dispensation.  And  from  these  sins,  a  readiness  to 
listen  to  objections  against  the  Sabbath  springs.  Who 
would  ever  have  endured   the  fiction   of  an  anticipation  in 


84  THE    SABBATH    UNDER    THE 

the  narrative  of  the  glorious  work  of  creation,*  or  of  the 
Sabbath  being  merely  a  ceremonial  rite,  if  an  indifference 
and  weariness  for  spiritual  things  had  not  predisposed  the 
mind  to  seek  any  excuse  for  its  worldliness  and  unconcern. 
But  let  us  be  aroused  to  real  penitence.  Let  us  view  the 
guilt  of  contemning  God  in  its  true  light.  Let  our  hard- 
ness of  heart,  and  pride  of  intellectual  distinction,  yield  to 
the  sweet  influences  of  grace,  and  we  shall  honor  God  in 
(he  day  which  from  the  creation  has  been  dedicated  to 
him.  The  anomaly  of  a  Christian  loving  God  and  under- 
valuing the  day  of  God,  has  never  yet  been  known.  But 
further, 

IV.  Let  lis  IMITATE  THE  HEROIC  ZEAL  of  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah  in  vindicating  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath. 
Surely  the  Christian  cannot  hesitate  as  to  his  duty,  after 
considering  the  conduct  of  these  inspired  men.  Each 
should  do  what  his  talent  and  influence  in  society  enjoin 
and  permit.  It  is  the  principle  upon  which  I  insist.  If 
we  cannot  absolutely  shut  the  gates  of  our  great  cities 
to  the  entrance  of  merchandize,  we  may  do  something  to 
lessen  the  evil.  We  may  shut  the  door  of  our  houses 
— 'we  may  prohibit  the  purchase  or  reception  of  articles 
of  consumption  by  our  servants  and  dependants — we  may 
encourage  those  upon  whom  we  have  any  influence,  to 
observe  the  sacred  day.  Let  only  the  zeal,  the  cour- 
age, the  firmness,  the  disinterestedness  of  Ezra  and  Nehe- 
miah be  connected  with  their  piety  and  love  to  the  house 
of  their  God,  and  much  would  be  done.  How  have  national 
revivals  of  religion  been  brought  about  in  other  times? 
In  the  days  of  Samuel,  in  those  of  Hezekiah  or  Jehosha- 
phat  or  Josiah?  The  magistrates  and  ministers  of  religion 
took  the  lead.  Men  like  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  rose  up 
with  holy  determination  and  simplicity.  Public  conscience 
and  sentiment  were  addressed.  Gross  infractions  of  the 
day  of  rest  were  discouraged.  Prayer  was  off'ered  up 
at  the  throne  of  mercy.  God  answered  the  petition,  and 
truth  and  holiness  were  again  established. 

V.  I  add  only  one  more  thought;  that  as  the  guilt  of 
Sabbath-breaking  and  of  idolatry  were  united  of  old  in  the 

*  No  man  ever  thought  of  anticipation  in  this  place,  who  was  not  lirst 
anticipated  with  manifest  prejudice,  says  an  old  writer. 


LAW    OF    MOSES.  85 

practice  of  the  people,  and  in  the  threatnings  of  the  holy- 
prophets,  we  should  especially  dread  that  false  view  of 

THE  CHARACTER  OF   GoD   AND   OF   THE  NATURE  ^  OP 

Christianity  which  are  generally  associated  with  the 
violation  of  the  Lord's  day.  To  worship  God  aright,  is 
to  adore  him  in  his  perfections,  in  his  manifestations  of  him- 
self in  his  word,  in  his  infinite  right  over  man,  in  his  holy 
law,  in  his  eternal  judgment,  in  the  revelation  of  a  way  of 
salvation  through  the  atonement  of  Christ  and  in  the  ope- 
rations of  the  divine  Spirit,  in  the  communion  with  himself 
to  which  he  admits  the  devout  worshipper.  All  other  wor- 
ship is  idolatry  in  its  proper  sense.  It  is  the  setting  up 
idols  in  our  heart.  It  is  worshipping  a  God  of  our  own 
imagination.  Now  mark  the  alliance  of  all  this  with  the 
sin  of  neglecting  and  violating  the  holy  Sabbath.  We  throw 
off  the  day  of  religion,  because  we  throw  off  the  God  whom 
that  religion  regards.  We  set  up  the  god  of  the  infidel,  or 
of  the  Socinian,  or  the  careless  worldly  professor,  which  is 
such  an  one  as  himself;  and  then  we  worship  that  idol,  by 
vanity,  by  carnal  indulgence,  by  the  neglect  of  all  the  spir- 
itual duties  of  the  Christian  Sabbath.  Let  the  God  of  the 
Bible  be  enthroned  in  the  heart,  and  the  Sabbath  which 
that  God  blessed  and  sanctified,  will  be  duly  honored.  To 
love  him,  to  glorify  him,  to  worship  him,  to  meditate  on  his 
works,  to  prepare  for  the  enjoyment  of  him  for  ever,  will 
fully  occupy  that  sacred  portion  of  time  which  he  has  ap- 
pointed for  those  ends.  Faith  in  the  object  of  worship  will 
produce  the  sanctification  of  the  day  of  worship.  And  thus 
shall  we  join  the  instructions  of  the  Old  Testament 
on  the  subject  of  the  Sabbath,  with  the  grace  and 
strength  furnished  in  the  New,  and  have  the  patriarchal 
and  Christian  day  of  rest  united  and  fulfilled  in  all  their 
blessings. 

8 


SERMO^f  III. 


THE  SABBATH  VINDICATED  UNDER  THE  GOSPEL  FROM 
PHARISAICAL  AUSTERITIES,  AND  SET  FORTH  IN  MORE 
THAN  ITS  ORIGINAL  DIGNITY  AND  GLORY. 


Mark  ii.  27,  28. 

•And  he  said  unto  them,  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man, 
and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath.  Therefore  the  Son  of  man 
is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath. 

We  now  come  to  a  most  important  part  of  the  argument 
for  the  divine  authority  and  perpetual  obligation  of  a  day  of 
weekly  rest.  There  has  hitherto  appeared  but  little  of  real 
weight,  or  even  of  plausibility,  in  the  objections  raised  by 
our  opponents.  The  fiction  of  an  anticipated  history  is  so 
groundless,  and  the  attempt  to  evade  the  authority  of  the 
fourth  commandment  so  violent,  that  we  may  almost  wonder 
that  any  professed  believer  in  Christianity  should  have  ad- 
vanced them.  But  the  case  is  different,  as  it  respects  the 
gospel  dispensation:  our  Lord  undoubtedly  introduced  ma- 
terial changes  in  the  observation  of  the  Sabbath  as  prev- 
alent at  the  time  of  his  ministry.  Undoubtedly  he  relieved 
it  from  many  restrictions.  On  what  authority,  indeed, 
these  restrictions  had  been  introduced,  is  another  question 
— but  undoubtedly  he  relieved  it.  The  apostles  followed, 
and  transferred  the  time  of  its  celebration,  from  the  last 
t()  the  first  day  of  the  week;  and  abrogated  finally  the 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  87 

ceremonies  and  rites  of  the  Jewish  law.  All  this  is  con- 
sidered by  many  as  a  repeal  of  the  institution  altogether — 
they  view  the  Christian  Sabbath  as  a  new  command  resting 
on  its  own  basis — and  that  basis  the  mere  example  of  the 
apostles. 

Let  us  then  calmly  consider  this  part  of  the  subject. 
The  authority  of  our  Redeemer,  as  "Lord  of  the  Sabbath," 
to  abrogate  or  dissolve  any  divine  ordinance,  is  acknowl- 
edged on  all  hands. 

Here  it  will  be  convenient  to  divide  the  question  into  two 
parts — the  divine  authority  of  the  Sabbath  itself  under  the 
Christian  dispensation — and  The  ground  on  which  the  day 
of  its  observation  was  changed.  In  other  words,  we  must 
ansvver  two  questions:  Have  we  a  Sabbath  under  the  gos- 
pel? and,  Is  that  Sabbath  the  Lord's  day?  The  first  will 
occupy  the  present  discourse. 

Now  if  the  statements  we  have  made  in  our  preceding 
arguments  be  at  all  valid,  this  question  will  almost  answer 
itself.  For  we  left  the  Sabbath  on  the  margin  of  the  Old 
Testament,  ready  to  step  over  into  the  Evangelical  dispen- 
sation. We  had  brought  up  the  proof  of  its  continued  ob- 
ligation from  its  first  enactment  in  paradise,  to  the  very  line 
of  separation.  The  glories  of  the  six  days'  work,  succeeded 
by  a  seventh  day's  repose,  as  inscribed  on  the  order  of  crea- 
tion— the  insertion  of  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  into  the  ten 
commandments — its  distinct  and  lofty  position  above  the  cer- 
emonies of  Moses  in  the  very  midst  of  that  economy — its  in- 
culcation by  the  prophets  as  of  essential  moral  force,  and 
as  about  to  form  a  part  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom; — all  this 
implies  that  Christ's  religion  would  not  be  deprived  of  its 
day  of  rest — that  the  most  perfect  dispensation  would  not 
be  inferior  in  privilege  to  the  less  perfect — that  where  all 
is  grace,  and  light,  and  universality,  we  should  not  be  al- 
lowed a  smaller  portion  of  time  for  the  immediate  honor  of 
our  God,  and  communion  with  him,  than  where  bondage  and 
fear  prevailed. 

And  this  we  shall  accordingly  find  to  be  the  case.  We 
shall  see  the  ten  commandments,  and  the  Sabbath  amongst  the 
number,  recognized  by  our  Lord  and  his  apostles — we  shall 
observe  our  Savior  honoring  it  on  all  occasions  by  his  prac- 
tice, and  vindicating  it  from  unauthorized  traditions  injurious 
to  its  real  design.     We  shall  find  that  nothing  with  respect 


88  THE    SABBATH    VINDICATED    FROM 

to  it  is  abrogated  under  the  gospel,  but  those  temporary 
ceremonies  and  statutes  which  constituted  the  peculiarities 
of  the  Jewish  age.  We  shall  perceive  that  the  especial 
promise  of  the  New  Testament  has  for  its  object  to  render 
its  duties  more  practicable  and  delightful,  and  thus  increase 
tenfold  their  obligation. 

That  is,  we  shall  discover  that  the  solemn  axiom  deliv- 
ered by  our  Lord  in  the  text,  together  with  the  caution  and 
inference  connected  with  it,  lays  down  the  true  principle  on 
which  the  Christian  day  of  rest  is  to  be  enforced. 

The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man;  was  originally 
granted  him  as  a  boon — was  appointed  for  his  necessary 
repose  from  worldly  toil  and  care — was  made,  not  for  the 
Jew  merely,  but  for  man  as  man;  for  man  as  consistino-  of 
body  and  soul;  as  requiring  rest  and  refreshment  for  the 
one,  religious  instruction  for  the  other;  as  created  for  his 
Maker's  glory,  and  destined  for  eternal  happiness  or 
misery. 

What  a  noble  declaration  of  the  perpetual  design  and 
authority  of  the  institution!  Of  all  our  Savior's  axioms, 
few  are  more  clear,  definite,  important,  universal.  It  takes 
for  granted  that  there  would  be  a  Sabbath  under  his  dis- 
pensation; and  it  defines  its  purposes,  that  it  was  made  for 
the  advantage  and  benefit  of  man — for  his  highest  wel- 
fare both  as  to  his  body  and  soul. 

Nor  is  the  caution  which  our  Lord  adds  less  appropriate 
considering  the  austerities  which  the  Jewish  masters  had 
imposed;  not  man  for  the  sabbath.  Their  error  lay 
in  overlooking  the  grand  moral  end  of  the  institution.  They 
taught  that  "man  was  made  for  the  Sabbath."  Our  Lord 
recals  the  institution  to  its  first  and  true  design;  he  teaches 
that  it  was  not  a  rite  ending  in  itself,  and  to  which  all  the 
moral  purposes  of  it  should  yield;  but  that  God  would  "have 
mercy  and  not  sacrifice,"  and  that  when  the  real  spiritual 
and  exalted  interests  of  man,  for  which  it  was  appointed, 
required  a  suspension  of  any  of  its  outward  observances, 
that  suspension  was  lawful. 

The  axiom  and  caution  explain  all  our  Lord's  conduct. 
The  fundamental  law  of  the  Sabbath  remains  unchanged; 
as  it  began,  so  it  will  end  only  with  the  world  itself.  But 
the  embarrassments  and  trammels  of  human  fancy  are  dis- 
solved, and  its  simplicity  is  restored. 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  89 

The  inference  follows  of  course;  therefore  the  Son 
OF  MAN  IS  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath.  For  the  in- 
stitution having  originally  been  made  for  the  good  of  man; 
and  "the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath"  having  become,  by  his  in- 
carnation "the  Son  of  man,"  for  redeeming  him  from  death, 
for  introducing  the  last  dispensation,  and  ordering  all  things 
in  that  dispensation  for  his  best  vt^elfare — "therefore  the 
Son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath,"  to  expound  as 
legislator  its  injunctions,  to  annul  with  authority  the  impo- 
sitions introduced  contrary  to  its  genuine  spirit,  to  leave  it 
as  one  of  the  distinctions  and  privileges  of  his  universal  and 
spiritual  kingdom. 

Proceed  we,  then,  to  consider  the  divine  obligation  of 
the  weekly  day  of  rest  under  the  gospel,  as   apparent  from 

I.     The  recognition  of  the  ten  commandments, 

AND    OF    the    fourth    AMONGST    THE  NUMBER,   which    OUf 

Lord  and  his  apostles  make. 

It  will  be  recollected,  that  the  moral  law  had  for  fifteen 
centuries  been  known  as  a  distinct  code,  under  the  titles  of 
"The  Tables  of  the  Law,"  "The  Commandments,"  "The 
Law,"  and  similar  appropriate  names,  which,  as  we  have 
already  remarked,  meant  the  same,  with  reference  to  other 
commands,  as  "The  Bible"  with  regard  to  other  books. 
It  need  scarcely  be  noticed,  also,  that  "The  Command- 
ments" were  divided  into  two  parts,  the  first  containing 
four  precepts  and  no  more,  the  second  six;  the  whole  being 
ten;  and  that  the  first  series  was  summed  up  in  the  well- 
known  command  of  the  love  of  God,  and  the  second  of  the 
love  of  our  neighbor. 

Now  if  our  Lord  and  his  apostles  recognize  the  perpet- 
ual authority  of  the  whole  moral  law  as  a  matter  of  course; 
if  they  refer  to  it  as  known  by  the  collective  name  or 
names  which  we  have  noticed;  if  they  divide  it  into  the 
two  great  commanding  precepts  of  the  love  of  God  and 
man;  if  they  refer  to  some  of  them  in  a  manner  which 
proves  that  the  order  of  the  ten  commands  was  the  same 
as  when  promulgated  from  Mount  Sinai;  if  they  declare 
that  the  gospel  abrogated  none  of  the  precepts,  but  enlarged 
their  scope  and  enforced  their  authority;  and  if,  finally, 
they  denounced  their  displeasure  against  those  who  should 
teach  any  relaxation  of  the  least  of  these  enactments; — then 
8# 


90  THE    SABBATH    VINDICATED    FROM 

the  whole  ten  commandments,  the  fourth  included,  are  of 
plenary  force  under  the  gospel. 

And  need  I  remind  you  that  when  one  came  to  Christ 
and  said,  ^'Good  Master,  what  shall  I  do  that  I  may  in- 
herit eternal  life?"  our  Lord  at  once  replied,  as  a  matter 
perfectly  familiar,  ^'Thou  knowest  the  commandments" 
— if  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  commandments," 
— and  when  the  inquirer  demanded  which,  Jesus  recapit- 
ulated five;  thus  expressly  recognizing  the  whole  code?* 
Need  I  tell  you,  that  on  another  occasion,  he  summed  up 
the  two  tables,  as  Moses  so  frequently  had  done  in  the 
Pentateuch,  into  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  our  neigh- 
l)or,  adding,  as  if  to  strengthen  his  recognition  of  them — 
*'0n  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets?"! 

Need  I  tell  you  that  at  another  time  he  reproached  the 
Pharisees  with  having  "made  void"  one  commandment,  the 
fifth,  "through  their  tradition?"  Need  I  remind  you,  above 
all,  that  he  declared  in  one  of  his  most  solemn  discourses 
— that  on  the  Mount — that  "he  came  not  to  destroy  the 
law  and  the  prophets,  but  to  fulfil" — that  "till  heaven  and 
earth  should  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  should  in  no  wise 
pass  from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled" — that  "whosoever 
should  break  one  of  the  least  of  these  commandments  and 
should  teach  men  so,  should  be  called  least  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven" — and  that  "unless  the  righteousness  of  his  dis- 
ciples should  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  they  should  in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven?"  Can  anything  be  more  express  upon  our  ar- 
gument than  such  declarations;  especially  as  our  Savior 
leaves  us  in  no  doubt  of  what  he  meant  by  the  law,  but 
proceeds  to  explain  several  of  the  ten  commandments  ?j 

And  why  should  I  detain  you  with  going  over  the  same 
ground  as  to  the  apostles?  Do  they  not  every  where  ac- 
knowledge without  addition  or  diminution,  the  same  deca- 
logue? Does  not  St.  Paul  say,  "He  that  loveth  another, 
hath  fulfilled  the  law?"  and  then,  after  enumerating  five 
commands,  does  he  not  add,  "And  if  there   be  any  other 

*  Malt.  xix.  16.     Mark  x.   17.     Luke  xviii.  18. 
t  Deut.  vi.  5.    Lev.  xix.  19.    Malt.  xxii.  36—40. 
I  Matt.  y.  vi.  vii. 


PHARISAICAL   IMPOSITIONS.  91 

commandment,  it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this  saying", 
*'Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself?"*  And  though 
he  quote  not  separately,  any  more  than  our  Lord,  the  par- 
ticular precepts  of  the  first  table,  yet  can  any  one  suppose, 
that  when  he  sums  up  the  second  table,  as  we  have  seen, 
in  the  love  of  our  neighbor,  he  meant  to  exclude  the  first 
table  or  any  precept  of  it,  any  more  than  our  Lord  meant  to 
exclude  it,  who  actually  quotes  the  Mosaic  summary  of  that 
first  table?  But  I  need  not  dwell  on  so  clear  a  point.  I 
need  not  enumerate  the  passages  where  St.  Paul  and  his 
brother  apostles  cite  or  refer  to  the  moral  law,  as  of  divine 
and  perpetual  authority  under  the  gospel.  What  indeed 
is  sin  "but  the  transgression  of  the  law?"!  What  is  the 
Christian's  whole  state  of  duty,  but  "the  being  under  the 
law  to  Christ ?"J  And  how  would  the  apostle  have 
"known  sin,  except  the  law  had  said,  thou  shalt  not  covet  ?"^ 
I  add,  therefore  only,  that  St.  Paul,  when  writing  to  the 
Ephesians,  a  Gentile  church,  assumes  their  acquaintance 
with  the  very  order  of  the  precepts  of  the  decalogue,  as 
well  as  their  authority,  when  he  states  concerning  filial 
obedience,  that  it  is  "the  first  commandment  with  promise:'^ 
— thus  recognizing  the  usual  arrangement  of  the  decalogue, 
and  proving  that  no  commandment  had  been  changed  or  dis- 
possessed of  its  place. 

Now  this  carries  the  whole  question.  If  Christ  and  his 
apostles  came  not  to  relax,  or  abrogate,  or  destroy  the 
moral  law,  but  to  vindicate,  explain,  and  enforce  it,  then 
the  ten  commandments  in  every  one  of  their  number — and 
the  fourth  equally  with  the  rest — is  established  and  recog- 
nized— the  law  of  the  Sabbath  is  as  authoritative  as 
the  law  against  theft,  murder,  or  adultery.  The  code  is 
one  entire,  inseparable  body  of  moral  precepts.  "Whoso- 
ever," says  St.  James,  in  language  which  implies  all  we 
are  contending  for,  "shall  keep  the  whole  law,  and  yet 
offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all;  for  he  that  said.  Do 
not  commit  adultery,  said  also.  Do  not  kill.  Now  if  thou 
commit  no  adultery,  yet  if  thou  kill,  thou  art  become  a 
transgressor  of  the  law."1| 

*  Rom.  xiii.  8.  f  1  John  iii.  4. 

X  1  Cor.  ix.  21.  §  Rom.  vii.  7. 

II  James  ii.  10,  11. 


92        THE  SABBATH  VINDICATED  FROM 

After  the  argument  of  the  preceding  discourses,  it  seems 
only  trifling  that  our  Lord  has  not  expressly  quoted  the 
fourth  commandment.  The  mere  silence  of  Scripture  will 
not  surely  be  again  alleged.  And  we  are  to  remember  that 
several  other  of  the  precepts  of  the  decalogue  are  equally 
omitted — and  that  as  the  fault  of  the  Jews  with  regard  to 
the  Sabbath,  was  not  in  defect,  but  excess — as  they  con- 
sidered the  fourth  conmnandment  as  surpassing  every  other 
in  dignity — as  they  boasted  of  a  most  minute  and  punctil- 
ious observance  of  it — and  loaded  it  with  innumerable  tra- 
ditions; our  Lord  had  only  to  restore  it  to  its  original  sim- 
plicity, and  set  it  forth  by  his  doctrine  and  example  in  its 
native  loveliness.  And  this  is  precisely  what  he  did.  The 
neglect  into  which  the  original  law  had  fallen  before  the 
M'  saical  dispensation,  was  supplied  by  exactly  what  was 
then  required,  an  express  promulgation — a  strong,  direct, 
detailed  command  inserted  amongst  the  other  moral  pre- 
cepts. The  excess  which  had  been  generated  by  the  su- 
perstition and  formality  of  the  Jews  before  the  gospel  econ- 
omy, was  corrected  by  exactly  what  was  required,  the 
gracious  conduct  of  our  Lord.     For, 

n.  He  HONORED  THE  SaBBATH  ON  ALL  OCCASIONS, 
AND    NEVER    VIOLATED    ITS     SANCTITY,    according     to      the 

true  import  of  the  moral  and  ceremonial  enactments  of 
Moses;  but  merely  brought  it  back  to  its  genuine  spirit 
and  design,  from  the  uncommanded  austerities  of  the  Jew- 
ish doctors — a  conduct  which  the  apostles  also  perfectly 
understood  and  imitated  in  their  own  practice. 

On  eleven  occasions  is  our  Lord's  doctrine  and  spirit 
with  regard  to  the  Sabbath  recorded.  These  are  distri- 
buted over  his  ministry.  Between  the  first  and  second  pass- 
over  we  have  three:  the  sermon  at  Nazareth;*  his  teach- 
ing at  Capernaum,!  and  his  healing  Peter's  wife's  mother.  J 
We  have  four  between  the  second  and  third  passover:  the 
miracle  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda;^  the  plucking  the  ears  of 
corn;j|  his  restoring  the  withered  hand;!!  and  his  second 
teaching  at  Nazareth.**  The  remaining  occasions  occur 
between  the  third  and  fourth  passover — the  last  of  his 
ministry:  his  defence  of  the  miracle  at  the   pool  of  Beth- 

*  Luke  iv.  16-22.  t  Luke  iv.  31—37.  t  Luke  iv.  38-41. 

^  John  V.  5.  ad  Jin.        |I  Luke  vi.  1—5.  IT  Matt.  xii.  9— 21. 

**  Mark  vi.  1-6. 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  93 

esda;*  his  healing  of  the  man  blind  from  his  birth;!  of 
the  woman  eighteen  years  infirm  J — and  the  man  afflicted 
with  the  dropsy. § 

Now,  if  on  calmly  examining  all  these  narratives,  we 
should  find  that  our  Lord  always  honored  and  kept  the  Sab- 
bath; that  he  performed  miracles  of  healing  upon  it,  only 
as  occasions  arose,  and  in  order  to  confirm  his  doctrine, 
and  ensure  faith  in  his  messiahship;  that  these  acts  were 
never  in  violation,  but  entirely  in  accordance  with  the  Mo- 
saic law;  that  they  were  especially  designed  to  relieve  the 
institution  from  the  oppressive  traditions  of  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees;  that  no  objections  were  taken  against  them  at 
first,  and  afterwards  only  as  pretences  to  cover  their  malig- 
nity and  hatred  to  his  divine  mission;  that  our  Lord's  de- 
fences of  himself  and  his  disciples  proceeded  on  what  was 
the  real  import  of  the  fourth  commandment,  though  misun- 
derstood; and  assumed  that  the  Sabbath  itself  was  of  per- 
petual obligation;  and  if  all  this  be  confirmed  by  our  Lord's 
caution  concerning  the  flight  of  his  disciples  at  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem,  and  by  the  conduct  and  doctrines  of  his 
inspired  apostles  at  the  first  promulgation  of  the  gospel — 
then  it  will  be  admitted  that  our  Savior,  «!0  far  from  relax- 
ing the  fourth  commandment,  or  abrogating  the  essential 
law  of  the  Sabbath,  vindicated  it,  established  it,  and  left  it 
in  more  than  its  original  authority. 

We  begin  with  the  three  incidents  occurring  before  the 
second  passover.  On  the  very  first  of  these  Ave  are  told 
that  our  Lord  "went,  as  his  custom  was,  into  the  syna- 
gogue on  the  Sabbath-day,  and  stood  up  for  to  read." 
This  marks  a  habit — a  habit  acted  upon  in  his  own  city, 
'^where  he  had  been  brought  up."  The  divine  discourse 
cited  from  the  prophet  Isaiah  followed;  and  thus  the  highest 
honor  is  put  upon  his  Father's  institution.  Capernaum  is 
the  next  scene  presented  to  us.  ''He  taught  the  people  on 
the  Sabbath-days,"  is  the  record;  betokening  again  a  cus- 
tom, a  course  of  instruction.  But  a  demoniac  is  present, 
and  cries  out  to  the  disturbance  of  the  worshippers;  the 
devil  is  rebuked  with  a  word,  quits  the  possessed  suiferer, 
bears  unwilling  testimony  to  our  Savior's  messiahship,  and 

*  John  vii.  21,  ad  Jin.  \  John  ix.  1  ad  Jin. 

\  Luke  xiii.  10— J7.  \  Luke  xiv.  1—6. 


94  THE    SABBATH    VINDICATED    FROM 

diffuses  his  fame;  so  that  the  evangelist  notes  the  fulfilment 
of  the  prophecy:  "The  people  which  sat  in  darkness  saw  a 
great  light."*  No  idea  of  a  breach  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment enters  a  single  mind,  no  clamor  is  raised,  no 
accusation  is  brought  against  him.  The  Sabbath  is  exalted 
by  our  Lord's  conduct  on  it.  On  the  same  evening,  retir- 
ing from  the  synagogue  and  entering  Simon's  house,  he 
heals  his  wife's  mother  of  a  fever;  and  afterwards,  when 
the  sun  was  set  and  the  Sabbath  past,!  multitudes  of  sick 
were  brought  to  him,  and  were  healed — for  on  no  occasion 
were  crowds  collected  even  for  this  beneficent  exertion  of 
power,  on  the  Sabbath:  the  miracles  are  separate  acts, 
occurring  incidentally,  and  forming  a  part  of  our  Lord's 
doctrine  and  instructions  as  Messiah. 

Between  the  second  and  third  passover,  similar  deeds  of 
mercy  occur,  and  are  now  seized  on  by  the  Pharisees  and 
Scribes  as  pretences  for  displaying  that  hatred  to  his  person 
and  mission  which  his  miracles  and  doctrines  had  by  this 
time  inflamed. 

At  the  pool  of  Bethesda,  the  impotent  man,  after  laying 
"thirty  and  eight  years  in  that  case,"  is  healed;  and  is 
commanded,  in  testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  cure,  or  rather 
as  a  part  of  the  miraculous  act,  to  carry  away  with  him 
the  miserable  rug  or  covering  on  which  he  lay, — which  it 
was  customary  for  the  poor  to  take  with  them  from  place 
to  place,  and  which,  if  left  behind  at  the  pool,  would  have 
been  lost,  though  probably  his  only  possession. J 

His  disciples  passing  through  the  corn-fields,  (most  likely 
to  or  from  the  synagogue,)  and  having  nothing  with  them 

*  Matt.  iv.  14 — 16,  for  it  was  on  that  occasion. 

t  The  Jewish  Sabbath  ended  at  sunset. 

:|:  The  beds  of  the  poor  in  the  Holy  Land  were  often  mattresses,  ruffs, 
and  covering's,  used  during  the  day  for  raiment — "If  thou  take  at  all  tny 
neighbor's  raiment  to  pledge,  thou  shalt  deliver  it  to  him  by  that  the  sun 
goeth  down;  for  that  is  his  covering  only,  it  is  his  raiment  for  his  skin: 
wherein  shall  he  sleep." — Exod.  xxii.  26,  27.  Similar  customs  prevail 
in  hot  countries  now.  "Mattresses,  or  something  of  that  kind,  are  used 
(in  Palestine)  for  sleeping  upon."  They  are  rolled  up,  carried  away, 
and  placed  in  cupboards  till  they  are  wanted  at  night."  "In  many  parts 
of  Spain  the  country  people  sleep  upon  mats  or  rushes  or  straw,  which 
they  roll  up  in  the  morning  and  take  with  them." — Harmer  and  Rocca  in 
Burder. 

Accordingly  our  Lord  said  to  the  paralytic,  almost  as  a  matter  of 
course,  if  his  cure  were  wrought,  and  as  a  part  of  that  cure,  "Arise,  take 
up  thy  bed  and  walk." — Matt.  ix.  6. 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  95 

to  eat,  and  no  opportunity  of  procuring  victuals,  pluck  the 
ears  of  corn  to  satisfy  the  pressure  of  instant  hunger.  The 
man  with  the  withered  hand  is  restored,  our  Lord  knowing 
the  secret  thoughts  of  the  Pharisees  who  were  watching 
him,  and  asking  them,  before  he  performed  the  cure,  whether 
it  was  "lawful  on  the  Sabbath  to  do  good  or  to  do  evil — 
to  save  life  or  to  destroy  it."  Their  silence  is  the  plainest 
admission  that  it  was  permitted  to  heal  on  the  Sabbath- 
day.  Lastly,  his  second  instructions  at  Nazareth  are  re- 
corded, no  instance  of  healing  occurring;  and  the  offence 
arising  from  his  mission  and  character,  breaking  out  not- 
withstanding. 

Now  in  this  second  series  of  cases,  can  any  one  really 
maintain  that  there  was  any  violation  of  the  Sabbath,  moral 
or  ceremonial,  by  such  conduct  and  doctrine  in  such  a  per- 
son as  our  Lord — a  messenger  from  heaven,  one  who  was 
executing  the  office  of  Messiah,  one  who  sustained  his  di- 
vine message  by  these  divine  acts.''  Were  they  not,  on 
the  contrary,  in  the  highest  degree  calculated  to  honor  and 
distinguish  the  day  of  religious  worship,  did  they  not  tend 
to  the  immediate  glory  of  his  heavenly  Father,  and  pro- 
mote all  the  highest  ends  of  the  Sabbath.'*  Were  not  the 
attendant  multitudes  thus  enabled  to  witness  his  mighty 
deeds;  and  did  not  even  the  false  accusations  of  the  Phar- 
isees lead  to  a  more  close  examination  of  the  truth  of  the 
miracles  performed? 

But  to  reap  and  gather  in  corn  is  a  breach  of  the  rest 
of  the  Sabbath! — but  to  bear  and  carry  burdens  is  a  breach 
of  the  ceremonial  law!  Yes;  and  of  the  moral  also.  But 
the  plucking  a  few  ears  of  corn,  when  passing  through  a 
field  and  pressed  with  hunger,  is  not  reaping — and  to  carry 
to  one's  house  a  mat-bed  as  a  part  of  a  miraculous  cure, 
from  a  pool,  where  if  left  it  would  instantly  have  been  lost 
to  its  possessor,  is  not  bearing  burdens.  Between  the 
reaper  gathering  in  his  field,  and  the  disciples'  conduct, 
there  was  as  great  a  difference  as  between  "the  men  of 
Tyre  bringing  fish  and  all  manner  of  ware  to  Jerusalem,"* 
and  the  impotent  man  bearing  off  his  bed  to  his  house,  in 
proof  of  a  miraculous  restoration  to  health. 

We  pass  to  the  third  series  of  our  Lord's  conduct  and 
works  on  the   Sabbath — those  immediately  preceding  his 

*  Neh.  xiii.  16. 


96  THE    SABBATH    VINDICATED    FROM 

passion.  On  the  first  of  these  occasions  he  vindicates  the 
cure  of  the  impotent  man  which  had  been  wrought  a  year, 
or  a  year  and  a  half,  previously,  at  the  pool.  The  restor- 
ation of  the  man  blind  from  his  birth,  whom  he  met  as  he 
was  passing  by,  forms  the  second.  The  next  is  the  loosing 
from  her  infirmity  the  woman  who  had  been  bowed  together 
for  eighteen  years  by  Satan,  and  who,  though  she  in  no  wise 
could  lift  up  herself,  had  yet  come  to  the  worship  of  the 
synagogue.  The  last  was  the  cure  of  the  man  that  had 
the  dropsy,  who  was  present  in  the  house  where  our  Savior 
was  eating  bread — the  Pharisees  watching  him — and  Jesus 
pausing  to  ask  them,  before  he  relieved  the  sufferer,  "If  it 
was  lawful  to  heal  on  the  Sabbath-day.^"  Upon  which, 
^'holding  their  peace,"  as  they  must  needs  do,  as  they 
knew  that  it  was  no  violation  of  their  law,  he  "took  him, 
and  healed  him,  and  let  him  go."* 

Such  are  the  separate  narratives,  which  sufficiently  vin- 
dicate themselves,  considering  the  mission  which  our  Lord 
was  fulfilling,  and  the  habitual  observation  of  the  worship 
and  law  of  the  Sabbath  which  he  maintained. 

But,  mark  the  general  groUxNds  of  which  he  de- 
fends his  conduct,  and  that  of  his  disciples,  in  the  second 
series  of  his  works,!  for  the  first  excited  nothing  but  ad- 
miration. Mark  how  he  appeals  to  their  own  law,  their 
own  usages,  as  recorded  in  the  sacred  books — the  example 
of  David,  the  example  of  the  priests  preparing  the  sacri- 
fices— the  divine  decision,  "I  will  have  mercy  and  not  sac- 
rifice;" concluding  the  defence  with  the  words  which  form 
the  text  of  this  discourse — "The  Sabbath  was  made  for" 
the  highest  good  of  "man;"  "'not  for"  the  good  of  "the 
Sabbath — therefore  the  Son  of  Man  is  Lord  also  of  the 
Sabbath,"  to  explain  its  true  ritual,  and  bring  it  back  to 
its  true  desisin. 


*  Luke  xiv.  1 — 6. 

t  "Have  ye  not  read  what  David  did  when  he  was  an  hungered,  and 
they  that  were  with  him,  how  he  entered  into  the  house  of  God,  and  did 
eat  the  shew-bread,  which  it  was  not  lawful  to  eat,  neither  to  them  that 
were  with  him,  but  only  for  the  priests?  Or  have  ye  not  read  in  the 
LAW  how  that  on  the  Sabbath-days  the  priests  in  the  temple  profane  the 
Sabbath  and  are  blameless?  But  I  say  unto  you  in  this  place  is  one 
greater  than  the  temple.  But  if  ye  had  known  what  this  meaneth,  I  will 
have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice,  ye  would  not  have  condemned  the 

GUILTLESS." 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  97 

Notice  also  another  ground  of  our  Lord's  vindication, 
the  common  necessities  of  our  nature,  which  no  law  of  God 
can  be  supposed  to  prohibit:  "Thou  hypocrite,  doth  not 
each  one  of  you  on  the  Sabbath  loose  his  ox  or  his  ass  from 
the  stall,  and  lead  him  away  to  watering-?"* — "What  man 
shall  there  be  among;  you,  that  shall  have  one  sheep,  and 
if  it  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  Sabbath-day,  will  he  not  lay  hold 
on  it  and  lift  it  out?  How  much  then  is  a  man  better  than 
a  sheep?!  Such  language  proves  that  it  was  the  false  and 
hypocritical  interpretations  of  the  Pharisees  which  our  Lord 
meant  to  oppose.  And,  indeed,  the  effect  of  his  remon- 
strances was  so  pointed,  that  on  one  occasion  we  are  told, 
"his  adversaries  were  ashamed,  and  could  not  answer  him 
again  to  these  things;  whilst  all  the  people  rejoiced  and 
glorified  God. "J 

That  these  actions  and  cures  on  the  Sabbath  were  con- 
trary   to    THE     NOTIONS     AND     FALSE     GLOSSES     OF      THE 

JEWISH  DOCTORS,  I  admit.  The  hatred  of  the  people, 
and  especially  their  rulers,  to  our  Savior's  character  and 
mission,  was  the  real  cause;  but  the  uncommanded  tradi- 
tions of  the  Pharisees  afforded  them  a  pretext.  And  when 
we  consider  the  extent  to  which  this  vexatious  and  hypo- 
critical system  had  been  carried,  and  the  immense  impor- 
tance to  an  universal  and  benignant  religion  like  Chris- 
tianity, to  have  one  of  its  chief  glories,  the  day  of  rest, 
placed  on  its  true  footing,  we  cannot  wonder  at  the  course 
which  our  Savior  pursued.  The  law  of  the  Sabbath  had 
been  loaded  by  the  masters  with  unreasonable  and  minute 
observances.  "You  will  see  in  their  oral  law,"  says  Dr. 
Wotton,  "an  incredible  minuteness  in  things  seemingly  the 
most  trivial;  but  all  subservient  to  one  main  end,  which 
was  to  teach  men  how  to  evade  the  law,  when  they  seemed 
most  solicitous  to  observe  it."§  Take  as  an  example  the 
absurd  reason  assigned  for  the  institution  itself  by  Philo 
the  Jew:  "Now,  why  God  chose  the  seventh  day,  and 
established  it  by  law  for  the  day  of  rest,  you  need  not  ask 
at  all  of  me,  since  both  physicians  and  philosophers  have 
so  often  declared,  of  what  great  power  and  virtue  that 
number  is,  as  in  all  other  things,  so  specially  on  the  nature 

*  Lukexiii.  15.  t  Matt.  xii.  11,  12. 

t  Luke  xiii.  17}  xiv.  6.  §  Wotton's  Mishna. 


98  THE    SA.BBATH     VINDICATED    FROM 

and  state  of  man.     And  thus  you  have  the  reason  of  the 
seventh-day-Sabbath.  "* 

Now  the  exact  points  which  our  Lord  determined  to  fall 
within  the  Mosaical  law,  are  those  which  the  Jewish  law- 
yers had  prohibited.  They  excused  themselves,  for  instance, 
from  offices  of  piety  and  charity  to  their  neighbor,  though 
they  allowed  the  law  its  fair  import  when  their  own  ox  or 
ass  was  to  be  fed  or  rescued  from  danger — that  is,  they 
took  advantage  of  the  Sabbath  to  veil  their  own  selfish- 
ness. They  held,  again,  that  no  ointment  should  be  ap- 
plied to  a  wound,  and  that  in  chronical  diseases  the  per- 
sons afflicted  should  endure  them  a  day  longer,  rather  than 
attempt  a  cure  on  the  Sabbath:  but  they  allowed  circum- 
cision to  be  performed  on  the  same  day.  Do  we  wonder, 
then,  that  our  blessed  Lord  healed  on  the  Sabbath-day — do 
vre  wonder  that  he  selected  chronical  complaints  as  the  ob- 
ject of  his  compassion — do  we  wonder  that  he  bid  the  impo- 
tent man  to  take  home  his  humble  bed — do  we  wonder  that 
he  made  clay  and  anointed  the  eyes  of  the  blind?  These 
actions  were  designed  to  sweep  away  the  rubbish  of  human 
tradition,  which  perverted  the  true  design,  and  encumbered 
the  real  duties  of  the  Sabbath. 

In  all  this  our  Lord  made  no  alteration  in  the 
MOSAIC  LAW,  he  relaxed  no  part  of  the  divine  command- 
ment, he  repealed  no  particle  of  the  ceremonial  usages, 
(this  belonged  to  the  apostolic  day,)  it  was  not  the  Chris- 
tian but  the  Jewish  Sabbath  which  he  vindicated,  and 
brought  back  to  its  original  design  by  showing  that  works 
of  necessity  and  charity  were  entirely  consistent  with  the 
letter  as  well  as  spirit  of  the  fourth  commandment,  as  well 
as  with  the  ceremonial  and  judicial  statutes  of  Moses. 

Indeed  all  our  Lord's  reasonings  suppose  the 
continuance  of  the  day  of  rest  in  its  essential 
moral  obligation  upon  man.  The  idea  of  a  worship- 
per of  God  without  a  Sabbath  never  entered  the  mind  of 
Jew  or  Christian  in  any  age — much  less  in  that  of  our 
Savior.  Why  regulate,  why  amend,  why  modify  the  false 
usages,  if  all  was  about  to  be  abrogated.''  Why  contend 
so  warmly  against  the  inventions  of  the  traditionary  mas- 
ters.''    Why  lay  down   distinctions  between  what  is  lawful 

"^  Heylin  in  Ed.  Rev.  1830. 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  99 

and  what  is  unlawful  to  be  done?*  Why  determine  that 
works  of  mercy  and  charity  are  allowable,  thus  implicitly 
prohibiting  all  other  works?  Why  not  silence  the  Phari- 
sees by  declaring  that  the  Sabbath  was  a  merely  tempo- 
rary observance,  about  to  vanish  before  the  permanent  law 
of  the  gospel?  When  our  Lord,  therefore,  instead  of  all 
this,  defends  himself  and  his  disciples  by  a  mode  of  argu- 
ment in  which  the  permanence  of  the  Sabbath  is  assumed, 
we  conclude  that  he  meant  to  teach  that  the  moral  obliga- 
tion of  it  remained,  and  would  remain  under  the  gospel  age. 

It  is  thus  he  explained  and  vindicated  other  com- 
mands, taking  for  granted  the  validity  of  the  commands 
themselves,  and  adding  his  authoritative  expositions.  Who 
€ver  thought  that  his  extension  and  new  application  of  sev- 
eral precepts  of  the  moral  law,  in  the  sermon  on  the  Mount, 
was  intended  to  weaken  the  force  of  the  original  com- 
mands? Who  ever  imagined  that  when  the  traditions  con- 
cerning the  fifth  precept  were  exposed,  and  the  pretence  of 
Corban  swept  away,  that  one  iota  of  the  law  itself  was 
removed  ? 

And  all  this  receives  confirmation  from  our  Lord's  sup- 
posing THE  continuance  OF  THE  Sabbath  at  a  period 
when  all  real  obligation  to  a  Jewish  institution  would  long 
have  ceased.  In  foretelling  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
and  directing  the  flight  of  his  disciples  (not  the  Jews  gen- 
erally— but  his  disciples — Christians — and  this  in  a  private 
and  confidential  conference,  and  applying  to  a  calamity 
nearly  forty  years  distant,  when  the  ceremonial  and  civil 
law  of  the  Jews  would  long  have  been  publicly  abrogated 
by  the  mission  of  his  apostles)  he  bids  them  to  pray,  "that 
their  flight  be  not  in  the  winter,  nor  on  the  Sabbath- 
day;"  as  these  two  impediments,  the  one  from  the  nature 
of  the  season,  the  other  from  the  obligation  of  the  fourth 
commandment,  would  obstruct  their  escape.  The  observa- 
tion cannot  be  expounded  of  any  superstitious  fears  of  vio- 
lating a  ceremonial  or  Mosaical  precept,  or  even  the  tra- 
dition of  the  elders;  because  flight  under  imminent  peril 
was  allowed.  The  argument,  therefore,  seems  of  mighty 
force. 


*  Mark  the  expression,  ''Wherefore  it  is  lawful  to  do  well  (to  heal 
the  sick  and  similar  acts)  on  the  Sabbath-day." — Matt.  xii.  12. 


100       THE  SABBATH  VINDICATED  FROM 

But  how  did  the  inspired  apostles  understand  their 
Master's  doctrine?  What  was  their  conduct  immediately 
upon  the  descent  of  the  Spirit,  and  in  the  interval  between 
the  abrogation  of  the  ceremonial  law  and  the  change  of 
the  day  of  rest,  from  the  seventh  to  the  first  of  the  week? 
Did  they,  or  did  they  not,  honor  the  Sabbath?  A  very 
few  words  will  suffice  on  this  point:  because  no  one  ventures 
to  deny  that  their  devout  observation  of  the  Jewish  rest 
extended  even  beyond  the  time  when  the  Christian  (as  we 
shall  prove  in  our  next  discourse)  superseded  it.  They 
were  so  far  from  neglecting*  the  Sabbath,  that  they  kept 
for  a  period,  in  order  to  conciliate  the  Jews,  both  the  Mo- 
saical  and  Christian.  I  speak  not  of  the  holy  women  who, 
embued  with  their  Lord's  doctrine,  and  guided  by  his  con- 
duct, hesitated  not  a  moment  to  ^'rest  the  Sabbath-day 
ACCORDING  TO  THE  COMMANDMENT;"*  eager  as  they 
were  to  provide  spices  and  ointments  for  his  body.  I  dwell 
not  upon  the  notice  of  the  sacred  day,  which  occurs  nat- 
urally and  without  effort,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  even 
where  the  Jews  are  not  concerned:  "and  the  Gentiles  be- 
sought that  these  words  might  be  preached  unto  them  the 
next  Sabbath.  And  the  next  sabbath  almost  the  whole 
city  came  together  to  hear  the  word  of  God."f  Nor  will 
I  do  more  than  refer  to  the  apostle's  habit,  copied  from 
that  of  his  divine  Lord,  of  sanctifying  this  most  ancient  of 
institutions:  "and  Paul,  as  his  manner  was,  went  in 
unto  them,  and  three  Sabbath-days  reasoned  with  them  out 
of  the  Scriptures.  And  he  reasoned  in  the  synagogue 
every  Sabbath." 

So  contrary  to  the  truth  of  the  case  is  it,  to  suppose 
that  our  Lord  and  his  apostles  abrogated  the  law  of  the 
Sabbath— they  did  not  even  relax  it.  It  wanted  no 
relaxation.  Like  every  other,  the  fourth  commandment 
was  "holy,  just,  and  good."  It  contained  in  itself  all  that 
principle  of  suspension  in  cases  of  real  necessity,  which 
the  mercy  of  the  Almighty  from  the  first  intended,  and 
which  the  tenor  or  the  precept  was  meant  to  include.  Not 
even  the  ceremonial  and  temporary  appendages  of  the  Mo- 
saical  economy  were  violated  by  our  Lord.  All  his  con- 
duct exalted  and  honored  the  day  of  his  heavenly  Father, 

*  Luke  xxiii.  56.  t  Acts  xiii,  42 — 45. 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  101 

and  vindicated  it  from  the  false  glosses  of  the  masters, 
which,  injurious  as  they  were  to  the  Jewish  religion,  would 
have  "eaten  as  doth  a  cancer"  into  the  Christian — and, 
in  fact,  would  have  been  a  fatal  obstruction  to  its  universal- 

To  relax,  indeed,  any  one  of  the  moral  and  essential 
rules  of  human  duty,  would  have  been  the  very  thing  which 
OUR  Lord  most  pointedly  condemned  in  his  sermon 
on  the  Mount — it  would  have  been  a  curse,  not  a  blessing", 
to  man.  The  moral  law  is  in  all  its  parts  a  transcript  of 
the  divine  goodness,  and  the  materials  of  human  happiness. 
What  man  wants  is,  not  an  alteration  of  the  moral  law 
of  his  Maker,  but  pardon,  grace,  salvation, —  m.otive  and 
strength  to  love  God  and  to  keep  his  commandments,  and 
more  particularly  that  which  is  rather  a  boon  and  gift  than 
a  precept — which  was  made  for  man;  and  which,  when 
cleared  by  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath  from  the  austerities 
which  perverted  all  its  designs  and  evaporated  all  its  spirit, 
is  set  forth  in  his  kinodom  in  more  than  its  orio-inal  disunity 

to  o  to       7 

and  2:lory. 

III.  We  proceed,  then,  to  our  next  point,  which  is  in- 
deed implied  in  what  we  have  already  proved — That  noth- 
ing is  abrogated  under  the  Christian  dispensation  with  re- 
spect to  the  Sabbath,  but  those  temporary  and  figur- 
ative enactments  which  constituted  the  peculi- 
arities   OF    THE   JEWISH    AGE. 

For  that  these  are  abrogated  it  is  important  for  us  to  re- 
member. We  maintain  not  now  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  nor  the 
Mosaic  Sabbath,  nor  the  ceremonial  Sabbath.  Here  we  re- 
quest a  particular  attention.  It  is  a  misconception  almost 
constantly  made.  The  moment  we  defend  the  original  insti- 
tution of  the  Sabbath  in  paradise,  and  its  perpetuity  and  au- 
thority as  a  part  of  the  moral  law,  we  are  suspected  of  leaning 
towards  the  Jewish  Sabbath.  And  when  we  go  on  to  show 
that  our  Lord  never  violated  the  Mosaic  enactments  but 
honored  them  in  his  whole  ministry,  and  left  the  Sabbath 
in  its  full  force,  we  are  condemned  at  once  as  bringing  in 
again  the  abrogated  ceremonies.  We  assert,  then,  just 
as  strongly,  that  the  Jewish  Sabbath  is  abolished,  as  we 
maintain  that  the  primitive  and  patriarchal  is  restored  and 
reanimated  with  the  peculiar  grace  and  motives  of  the 
Christian  dispensation.  The  moral,  essential  law  of  the 
*9 


102  THE    SABBATH    VINDICATED    FROM 

day  of  rest  remains,  nay  is  increased  in  obligation,  like 
every  other  precept  of  the  decalogue;  the  ceremonial  and 
judicial  superadditions  have  passed  away  with  the  dispen- 
sation which  gave  them  birth. 

Our  argument  from  the  example  and  doctrine  of  our 
Lord  went,  indeed,  to  prove,  not  only  that  he  recognized 
the  moral  law  of  the  fourth  commandment,  but  that  he 
also  honored  its  Mosaical  ceremonies,  because  he  was  *'a 
minister  of  the  circumcision  for  the  truth  of  God."  What 
we  now  assert  is,  that  after  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and 
the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  gospel-day  burst  upon 
the  world,  and  dissipated  "the  shadows"  of  the  Jewish 
law — the  Mosaic  covenant  "decayed  and  waxed  old  and 
was  ready  to  vanish  away,"  and  the  evangelical  covenant 
took  its  place — all  that  part  of  the  sabbatical  observances 
which  was  temporary  and  figurative,  and  dependant  on  the 
Jewish  theocracy,  was  carried  away;  and  nothing  left  but 
the  primary  essential  law  of  one  day's  religious  rest,  after 
six  days'  labor,  as  first  promulgated  in  paradise,  as  re-es- 
tablished and  reduced  to  a  written  precept  in  the  moral 
law,  and  as  explained  and  vindicated  from  Pharisaical 
impositions  by  our  gracious  Redeemer.  We  have  now 
a  better  covenant,  a  nobler  mediator,  a  more  glorious  high 
priest,  a  more  free  and  unembarrassed  way  of  access,  a 
richer  sacrifice;  other  altar,  temple,  worship,  and  sacra- 
ments; a  new  and  simpler  sanctification  of  the  season  al- 
lotted for  all  these  duties.  The  introductory  dispensation 
is  taken  out  of  the  way,  the  scaffolding  removed,  the  em- 
blems abrogated;  and  the  last  dispensation,  the  spiritual 
building  and  perfect  atonement,  are  come. 

The  Jewish  Sabbath  is  no  more  in  force  since,  than  it 
was  BEFORE,  the  Mosaical  economy.  The  double  sacri- 
fices, and  indeed  all  sacrifices  of  animals;  the  shew-bread; 
the  holy  vestments;  the  Levitical  priesthood  itself;  the  civil 
and  judicial  statutes;  the  signs  and  badges  of  a  national 
covenant;  the  ceremonial  ablutions;  the  limitation  to  the 
particular  day  of  the  seven  for  its  observance;  the  spirit  of 
bondage;  the  whole  manner  and  tone  of  worship  as  suited 
to  that  servile  and  imperfect  state  of  things,  are  gone. 
These,  if  now  insisted  on  (and  possibly  they  have  been  in 
some  periods  of  the  Christian  Church)  may  be  justly  de- 
nominated, carnal  ordinances  ;  "weak   and   beggarly  ele- 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  103 

ments;  a  yoke  which  neither  we  nor  our  fathers  were  able 
to  bear."*  We  are,  in  all  these  and  similar  respects,  to 
stand  fast  in  "the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us 
free,  and  not  be  entangled  again  in  the  yoke  of  bondage. "y 
The  converts,  indeed,  from  the  Jewish  people  were  per- 
mitted to  observe  for  a  season  the  injunctions  of  the  Mo- 
saic institutes — and  those  connected  with  the  Sabbath 
amongst  the  number — supposing  they  relied  not  upon  them 
for  justification.  Thus  St.  Paul  circumcised  Timothy,  ful- 
filled his  vow  as  a  Nazarite,  kept  the  Jewish  Sabbath  after 
the  Christian  had  commenced,  walked  unblameably  in  the 
ordinances;  that  is,  ''to  the  Jew  he  became  a  Jew,  that 
he  might  gain  the  Jews;  to  them  that  were  under  the  law, 
as  under  the  law,  that  he  might  gain  them  that  were  under 

the  law.^'t 

But  the  authority  of  all  that  was  ceremonial,  was  void, 
and  the  practice  gradually  ceased.  The  Gentile  converts 
were  strongly  urged  to  resist  all  imposition  of  the  antiquated 
yoke,  and  were  taught  the  true  spirituality  of  the  Christian. 
''Blotting  out  the  hand-writing  of  ordinances  that  was 
against  us,  which  was  contrary  to  us,  and  took  it  out  of  the 
way,  nailing  it  to  his  cross.  Such  is  the  apostolic  declara- 
tion; to  which  succeeds  the  inference — "Let  no  man, 
therefore,  judge  you  in  meat,  or  in  drink,  or  in  respect  of 
an  holy-day,  or  the  new-moon,  or  of  the  Sabbath-days; 
which  are  a  shadow  of  things  to  come;  but  the  body 
is  of  Christ."§ 

And  yet  more  pungently  to  the  self-justifying  Galatians; 
"How  turn  ye  again  to  the  weak  and  beggarly  ele- 
ments, whereunto  ye  desire  to  be  in  bondage!  Ye  ob- 
serve days,  and  months,  and  times,  and  years.  I  am  afraid 
of  you,  lest  I  have  bestowed  on  you  labor  in  vain."|j 

So,  with  his  wonted  tenderness  where  sincerity  of  faith 
appeared,  to  the  unestablished  Roman  converts,  "Him  that 
is  weak  in  the  faith,  receive  ye,  but  not  to  doubtful  dispu- 
tations. For  one  man  believeth  that  he  may  eat  all  things; 
another  who  is  weak,  eateth  herbs.  One  man  esteemeth 
one  day  above  another;  another  esteemeth  everyday  alike: 
let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind. "IT 

*  Gal.  iv  9.  Acts  xv.  10.  t  Gal.  v.  1.  \  I  Cor.  ix.  20. 

§  Col.  ii.  14— 17.  II  Gal.  iv.  7—11.  H  Rom.  xiv.  1,  5. 


i04       THE  SABBATH  VINDICATED  FROM 

How  these  passages  could  ever  be  supposed  to  be  meant 
to  abolish  the  moral  and  essential  law  of  the  Sabbath,  (or 
THE  Lord's  day,  which  was  the  name  it  assumed  imme- 
diately upon  the  Resurrection's  drawing  it  to  the  first  day 
of  the  week,)  it  is  difficult  to  conceive.  No  doubt,  if  the 
anticipated  history  be  received,  and  if  the  assertion  of  the 
merely  ceremonial  nature  of  the  Sabbath  be  admitted,  this 
or  any  other  consequence  may  be  shown  to  follow.  But 
having  now  a  right  to  take  for  granted  the  actual  insti- 
tution of  the  day  of  rest  in  Paradise — its  actual  moral 
character  and  obligation,  from  its  incorporation  into  the 
decalogue — its  essential  dignity  and  importance  even  when 
surrounded  with  the  appendages  of  the  intervening  economy 
of  Moses — its  inherent  authority  as  urged  in  the  most 
evangelical  of  the  prophecies — and  its  entire  simplicity  and 
force  when  purified  from  the  corruptions  of  the  Pharisees 
by  our  Savior; — having  a  right  to  take  all  this  for  granted, 
the  passages  just  cited  strongly  confirm  our  general  argu- 
ment, by  showing  that  nothing  but  the  ceremonies  and 
shadows  connected  with  it  are  dispersed;  the  substance  of 
course  still  remaining. 

In  fact,  what  took  place  with  regard  to  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, happened,  as  we  have  already  observed,  to  all 
the  others.  The  moral  law  assumed,  as  it  entered  the 
Mosaic  dispensation,  her  robes  of  emblematic  and  civil 
ceremony.  Each  commandment  was  adorned  with  appen- 
dages. When  that  dispensation  ceased,  she  put  off  her 
robes,  and  re-assumed  her  original  simplicity  of  attire. 
And  now  the  Queen  of  days  approaches  us  with  that  native 
majesty  and  authority  which  was  veiled,  but  not  lost,  during 
the  figurative  age; — a  majesty  and  authority,  which  was 
derived  from  her  first  coronation  in  Paradise,  which  was 
augmented  by  the  public  proclamation  of  her  rights  on  Mount 
Sinai,  and  which  she  retains  with  increased  privileges  and 
prerogatives  under  the  New  Testament. 

IV.  For  this  is  the  last  point  which  establishes  the  dig- 
nity and  glory  of  the  weekly  day  of  religious  rest  under  the 
Christian  dispensation,  that  the  distixguishing  proivi- 
isE   OF  THE  New  Testament  has  for  its  object  to 

RENDER  THE  DUTIES  OF  THE  SaBBATH  MORE  DELIGHT- 
FUL, AND  THUS  INCREASES  TENFOLD  THEIR  OBLIGA- 
TION. 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  1C5 

For  what  is  the  distinguishing  promise  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament? What  is  the  characteristic  of  the  gospel?  Is  it 
not  the  larger  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit?  Is  it  not  that  it 
is  "the  ministration  of  the  Spirit?"  And  what  is  the  most 
important  office  of  the  divine  Spirit?  Is  it  not  to  write 
this  very  law,  these  very  ten  commandments,  and  none 
other,  this  very  decalogue  which  was  effaced  from  the  heart 
of  man  by  the  fall,  and  which  was  republished  with  so  much 
solemnity  on  Mount  Sinai,  and  written  on  tables  of  stone 
with  the  linger  of  God,  and  deposited  in  the  ark — is  it  not 

TO    WRITE    THIS    LAW    UPON    THE    HEART    OF    MAN?        And 

would  our  Lord  have  promised  the  Holy  Spirit  for  this  pur- 
pose, if  he  had  himself  relaxed  any  part  of  this  law?  And 
does  not  this  promised  aid  increase  the  obligations  of  this 
law  upon  man,  and  exhibit  its  importance  with  a  tenfold 
force  ? 

Read  the  apostle's  comment  in  the  8th  chapter  of  his 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  where  he  describes  the  new  cove- 
nant, and  contrasts  it  with  the  old;  "Behold,  the  days 
come,  saith  the  Lord,  when  I  will  make  a  new  covenant 
with  the  house  of  Israel  and  with  the  house  of  Judah;  not 
according  to  the  covenant,  which  I  made  with  their  fathers, 
in  the  day  when  I  took  them  by  the  hand  to  lead  them  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt;  because  they  continued  not  in  my 
covenant  and  I  regarded  them  not,  saith  the  Lord.  For 
this  is  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house  of 
Israel  after  those  days,  saith  the  Lord.  I  will  put  my 
laws  (the  very  decalogue  of  which  we  speak)  into  their 
mind,  and  write  them  in  their  hearts."* 

And  accordingly  is  not  the  first  commandment,  to  wor- 
ship one  God,  thus  written  upon  the  heart?  Is  not  the 
second,  to  worship  him  not  with  graven  images?  Is  not  the 
third,  not  to  take  his  awful  name  in  vain?  And  so  of  all 
the  others?  And  is  the  fourth  then  omitted?  Is  there  a 
gap,  a  failure  in  the  divine  code?  Was  the  fourth  pre- 
'cept  inserted  in  the  decalogue  by  a  mistake?  Are  there 
ten  commandments  in  the  law,  and  only  nine  written  on  the 
heart?  Is  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath  engraven  and  ex- 
hibited in  the  very  order  of  the  first  creation,  and  not  en- 
graven in  the  order  of  the  new  creation?!     Is  the  soul  of 

*  Heb.  viii.  8—10. 

t  "If  any  man  be  in  Christ  he  is  a  new  creature;'"  or,  new  creation. 
—2  Cor.  V.  17. 


106  THE    SABBATH    VINDICATED  FROM 

man  formed  to  this  heavenly  temper  in  all  other  respects, 
and  has  he  no  taste  for  devoting  the  seventh  portion  of  his 
time  for  the  immediate  service  of  his  God?  No,  my  breth- 
ren, we  have  no  abrogation  of  the  immutable  law  of  God 
under  the  New  Testament.  On  the  contrary,  the  office  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  infix  it  deeply  in  all  its  parts  on  the 
inmost  soul  of  man.  This  confirms  and  clenches  all  our  pre- 
ceding arguments;  and  especially  that  from  the  conduct  and 
doctrine  of  our  Lord,  by  whom  the  Spirit  was  sent  for  the 
comfort  and  guidance  of  the  church. 

The  apostle  yet  more  distinctly  teaches  us  this,  when  he 
says,  that  the  Christian  is  an  epistle  of  Christ,  and  refers 
to  the  two  tables  of  the  law  as  transcribed  on  the  human 
heart,  and  to  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  divine  Author  of  the 
transcription.  Mark,  I  entreat  you,  his  language:  ''For- 
asmuch as  ye  are  manifestly  declared  to  be  the  epistle  of 
Christ,  ministered  by  us,  written  not  with  ink,  but  with  the 
Spirit  of  the  living  God;  not  m  tables  of  stone,  but  in 
FLESHLY  TABLES  OF  THE  HEART. "^  Here  then  are  the 
two  tables  of  the  law — the  first  and  second — the  one  con- 
taining the  precepts  of  the  love  of  God;  the  other,  those 
of  the  love  of  man.  Here  is  a  precise  transfer  of  this  law, 
a  removal  from  mere  tablets  of  stone,  to  the  fleshly  tablets 
of  the  heart.  In  this  transfer,  do  any  of  the  command- 
ments fall  away?  In  the  Christian's  heart,  the  two  tablets 
are  re-impressed,  the  two  tablets  as  they  came  from  the 
hand  of  God.  And  has  the  fourth  commandment  disap- 
peared in  the  passage  through  which  all  the  rest  have  found 
their  way  from  the  tablets  of  a  literal  inscription,  to  those  of 
the  Christian's  heart?  No,  my  brethren,  if  "there  were  a 
window  in  the  Christian's  bosom,  you  would  see  the  fourth 
commandment  filling  as  large  a  space  of  that  epistle  which 
is  written  not  with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of  the  living 
God,  as  it  does  in  the  decalogue  of  Moses. "|  You  will 
find  the  Christian  saying,  "I  delight"  in  this,  as  well  as 
every  other  part  of  "the  law  of  God,  after  the  inner  man;"^ 
you  will  find  him  acknowledging  with  St,  John,  "His  com- 
mandments  are  not  grievous  ;"§  you  will  find  him   saying 

*  2  Cor.  iii.  3.  t  Chalmers. 

\  Rom.  vii.  22.  %  1  Jolm  v.  3. 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  107 

with  the  Psalmist,  "Therefore  hold  I  straight  all  thy  com- 
mandments, and  all  false  ways  I  utterly  abhor."* 

Now  just  in  proportion  as  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  grand 
peculiarity  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  is  the  obligation 
of  all  the  commandments,  and  therefore  of  the  fourth,  in- 
creased. We  stated  in  a  former  place,  that  the  new  mo- 
tives which  the  advancing  privileges  and  light  of  the  church 
continually  afforded,  were  so  many  additional  claims  of  the 
day  of  rest  upon  man.  But  how  much  more  are  these 
claims  strengthened  by  the  aid  now  vouchsafed  by  the  Holy 
Spirit — this  aid  being  the  distinguishing  object  of  all  his 
operations — producing  a  transfer  of  the  law  of  the  Sab- 
bath from  stony  to  fleshly  tables;  and  thus  ending  in  a  far 
lighter  burden  as  to  external  service,  and  a  far  weightier 
obligation  in  respect  of  love  and  gratitude? 

But  it  is  time  to  close  the  discussion,  which  has  been 
necessarily  long.  A  case  has  been  made  out  which  com- 
mends itself,  I  trust,  to  every  attentive  hearer,  and  which 
strengthens  the  proofs  of  our  preceding  discourses,  and  car- 
ries on  the  argument  to  a  moral  demonstration.  I  have 
dwelt  at  length  on  the  conduct  and  doctrine  of  our  Lord, 
because  it  is  the  only  point  where  any  reasonable  doubt 
can  be  entertained.  The  first  blush  of  the  other  objections 
condemns  them.  But  the  objection  raised  from  this  has  its 
plausibility;  it  demanded  and  has  rewarded  our  examina- 
tion. I  feel  confident  that  in  the  main  the  view  now  pre- 
sented is  the  true  one.  If  any  doubt  is  suffered  to  rest  on 
the  question,  whether  our  Savior  violated  the  ceremonial 
law  of  the  Sabbath,  it  is  a  subordinate  point.  Supposing  he 
did  violate  the  letter  of  this  law,  it  was  as  "the  Lord  of  the 
Sabbath,"  in  the  discharge  of  the  highest  of  all  commis- 
sions— that  of  the  Savior  of  mankind.  The  topics  which 
would  remain  would  still  be  conclusive — that  our  Lord  hon- 
ored and  reverenced  the  institution  itself — based  his  de- 
fence of  what  he  did  and  said  with  regard  to  it  on  the  Old 
Testament,  and  the  admitted  usages  of  the  Mosaic  dispen- 
sation— only  opposed  the  false  commandments  of  the  tra- 
ditionary doctors — and  left  the  moral  and  substantial  duty 
untouched.  These  points  would  be  admitted.  Add  then, 
to  these,  the  express  recognition  of  the  ten  commandments 

*  Psalms  cxix.  128. 


108       THE  SABBATH  VINDICATED  FROM 

by  Christ  and  his  apostles — the  conduct  of  the  apostles  in 
honoring  the  Sabbath  after  his  example — and  the  special 
office  of  the  Holy  Ghost  under  the  gospel,  augmenting  the 
obligation,  whilst  it  facilitates  the  discharge  of  its  duties — 
and  we  have  an  accumulation  of  evidence  which  requires 
no  aid  from  the  question  of  our  Lord's  exact  conformity  to 
the  ceremonial  law. 

Let  any  one  apply  the  argument  as  thus  deduced  from 
the  reasonings  and  conduct  Christ  concerning  the  moral 
law  of  the  Sabbath,  to  any  statute  of  human  legislation 
which  had  been  loaded  with  unauthorized  usages,  and  let 
him  ask  himself,  what  would  be  the  necessary  effect  of  such 
reasoning  and  such  conduct  upon  the  authority  of  the  orig- 
inal provisions  of  the  statute;  and  he  would  instantly  say, 
the  establishment  of  that  authority  in  its  real  and  para- 
mount force. 

I  conceive  that  the  duty  of  dedicating  one  day  in  seven 
to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God,  was  so  wrought  into  the 
consciences  of  all  his  true  servants  in  every  age,  after  its 
repromulgation  in  the  moral  law  had  revived  the  memory  of 
its  glory  as  infixed  in  the  order  of  creation — and  that  the 
observance  of  it  was  so  reasonable  in  itself,  so  necessary 
to  man,  as  man,  and  so  delightful  also  to  the  devout  mind 
— that  the  thought  would  never  have  occurred  to  any  crea- 
ture, that  our  Lord  abrogated  the  fourth  commandment. 
The  Jews  accused  him  of  breaking  it,  but  never  of  denying 
its  obligation  or  sapping  its  claims.  The  Jews  at  the  time 
of  Christ  were  indignant  even  at  the  violation  of  their  oral 
precepts  concerning  the  Sabbath,  and  they  carried  their 
prejudices  with  them  into  the  Christian  church.  The  Gen- 
tile converts  had  all  been  accustomed  to  religious  festivals 
and  days  of  repose — the  corruptions  and  faint  vestiges  of 
the  original  Sabbath.  All  therefore  were  prepared  for 
keeping  the  fourth,  as  well  as  every  other  of  the  com- 
mandments. There  was  no  one  to  deny  its  divine  author- 
ity; and  when  the  gracious  interpretation  of  its  true  im- 
port by  our  Lord,  and  the  change  of  the  day  to  the 
commemoration  of  his  Resurrection  (as  we  shall  see  in  the 
next  discourse)  were  acquiesced  in,  the  ends  of  the  institu- 
tion were  fulfilled  in  the  celebration  of  the  divine  praises  in 
creation,  in  redemption,  in  grace,  and  in  the  anticipations 
of  the  heavenly  repose. 


PHARISAICAL    IMPOSITIONS.  109 

I.  Yield,  then,  Christian  brethren,  to  these  accumulated 
proofs.  Open  your  hearts  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  he  may 
re-establish  there  the  authority  of  the  day  of  his  heavenly 
Father.  Consider  the  many  additional  motives  to  its  ob- 
servance which  flow  from  the  grace  and  compassion  of  your 
Redeemer;  mark  his  tenderness  in  asserting  the  day  of 
rest  for  its  proper  spiritual  purposes;  observe  his  permission 
of  t^ose  works  of  real  necessity  and  mercy  which  render  an 
attendance  on  them  more  practicable.  You  have  not  a 
Savior  who  allows  the  Sabbath  to  be  buried  under  the  rub- 
bish of  human  commandments.  You  have  not  a  Savior 
who,  from  indifference  or  cowardice,  fears  to  put  down  the 
Pharisaical  imposers  of  austerities.  No.  Behold!  he  en- 
ters the  synagogue  on  the  holy  Sabbath — he  teaches;  he 
applies  to  himself  the  divine  prophecies  concerning  the  Mes- 
siah; he  heals  the  sick  in  confirmation  of  his  doctrine;  ha 
rebukes  devils,  and  they  leave  the  possessed  and  proclaim  his 
name  and  glory.  •  It  is  the  Sabbath:  and  it  is  in  this  way 
that  the  Messiah  distinguishes  and  honors  it.  He  vindi- 
cates his  disciples  plucking  the  ears  of  corn — he  anoints 
the  eyes  of  a  blind  man  with  clay — he  bids  the  dropsy  quit 
the  frame  of  one  patient,  and  bids  another  extend  his  with- 
ered arm — he  commands  the  devout  worshipper,  bowed  for 
eighteen  years,  and  she  raises  herself  to  glorify  God — he 
strengthens  the  impotent  man,  after  thirty-eight  years  of 
hopeless  dejection,  to  carry  miraculously  his  couch,  and  in 
that  act  to  prove  his  cure.  Blessed  Jesus!  in  all  this  we 
see  thee  to  be  a  "merciful  and  faithful  high  priest."  In 
all  this  we  see  thy  pity  in  vindicating  the  day  of  rest  to  its 
proper  purposes.  In  all  this  we  see,  not  the  lawgiver,  not 
the  prophet,  not  Moses,  not  Elias — but  Jesus,  the  wise 
and  merciful  Savior  of  mankind.  Hadst  thou  not,  O 
Savior,  thus  cleared  up  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  by  this 
thine  holy  example  and  doctrine,  how  long  might  thy  church 
have  been  perplexed  with  doubts — how  much  might  super- 
stition and  tyranny  over  the  conscience  have  prevailed! 
How  little  might  have  been  left  to  man  of  the  real  design 
and  consolation  of  the  day  of  rest!  But  now  thou  hast 
vindicated  the  truth.  Now  thou  hast  taught  not  only  that 
"the  sabbath  was  made  for  man;"  but  that  "man  was 
NOT  MADE  FOR  THE  SABBATH."  Now  wc  have  nothing 
to  do  under  thy  new  dispensation,  but  drop  the  temporary 
10 


110  THE    SABBATH  VINDICATED    FROM 

ceremonies  of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  return  to  the  simplicity 
of  the  patriarchal  worship,  inspired  and  elevated  with  the 
grace  of  thy  all-bountiful  Spirit, 

II.     And  here  let  us  learn,  Christian  brethren,  to  shun 

the  INGRATITUDE    OF    MAKING    USE     OF     THE    COMPASSION 

OF  OUR  Savior,  to  the  tacit  disparagement  of  the 
Sabbath  itself,  which  our  Lord,  as  we  have  seen,  has 
honored  by  the  very  acts  which  were  alleged  as  infringing 
its  sanctity.  If  the  intention  of  our  Savior  was,  as  I  am 
fully  convinced  every  fair  and  unprejudiced  hearer  will  admit, 
to  magnify  his  heavenly  Father's  institution — if  every  denun- 
ciation against  the  hypocrisy  and  severity  of  the  Pharisees 
was  so  much  of  real  dignity  and  authority  added  to  the  Sab- 
bath; then  let  us  beware  of  the  guilt  of  abusing  all  this  to 
unrighteousness  and  irreligion.  What  avails  that  God  allows 
works  of  necessity  and  mercy  to  be  done  on  the  Sabbath,  if 
your  practice  desecrates  the  whole  day  by  works  of  folly  and 
sin?  What  avails  it  that  God  will  "have  mercy  and  not 
sacrifice,"  when  you  give  him  neither?*  Surely  no  abuse 
of  the  divine  goodness  can  be  more  criminal  than  to  take 
occasion  from  a  sympathy  so  exuberant,  to  rob  God  of  his 
due,  our  souls  of  their  best  blessings,  the  poor  of  their  sea- 
son of  repose,  the  church  of  the  edification  of  our  example. 
Surely  this  is  a  branch  of  that  practical  antinomianism  which 
"turns  the  grace  of  ourLordJesusChrist  into  lasciviousness." 
And  be  it  well  remembered,  that  if  we  once  violate  con- 
science in  our  search  after  truth,  there  is  no  telling  whithei" 
we  may  wander.  The  calm  examination  of  the  question  of 
the  Sabbath  is  our  bounden  duty.  I  am  endeavoring  to 
assist  you  in  the  inquiry.  At  the  points  where  mistakes 
may  arise,  I  have  put  you  on  your  guard.  Time  for  set- 
tling the  judgment  I  readily  allow:  diff*erences  on  minor 
branches  of  the  argument  I  cheerfully  concede.  But  this 
I  must  remind  you  of;  fear,  reverence,  faith,  simple  subjec- 
tion of  soul  to  the  truth,  are  essential  to  all  religious  inqui- 
ries. Yield,  then,  to  the  call  of  grace.  Abuse  not  the 
mercy  of  your  Savior,  Rather  implore  that  spiritual  influ- 
ence of  the  grand  Comforter,  which  may  render  the  duties 
of  the  Christian  Sabbath  a  delight  and  joy. 

*  Offden. 


PHARISAICAL    IMrOSITIONS.  Ill 

III.  And  this  is  our  last  point  of  application.  The 
Jewish  Sabbath  is  no  more.  It  is  for  the  Christian  we 
plead — THAT  Christian  sabbath  for  which  the  holy 
SPIRIT  IS  ESPECIALLY  GIVEN.  The  joke,  not  only  of 
Pharisaical  impositions,  but  of  ceremonial  observances,  is 
broken  off  your  neck.  The  law  of  the  Sabbath  is  now  a 
law  of  love,  a  law  of  gratitude,  a  ^'law  of  liberty,"  as 
the  apostle  James  terms  it,  in  common  with  the  whole  moral 
law.  You  must  imbibe  this  filial  and  gracious  spirit,  in 
order  to  have  the  true  conception  of  the  importance  of  the 
institution,  and  the  right  feelings  for  rejoicing  in  it.  The 
despite  done  to  the  Holy  Spirit  is  one  cause  of  the  neglect 
of  the  sacred  day.  You  seek  not  his  influences  to  enlarge 
and  purify  the  heart.  You  seek  not  his  consolations  to 
animate  your  devotion.  You  complain  that  the  Sabbath  is 
a  heavy  day,  to  be  got  over  as  well  as  you  can.  You  have 
no  taste  for  its  spiritual  duties,  no  joy  at  its  return,  no  re- 
pose in  its  divine  anticipations.  What  does  this  go  to 
prove.?  That  you  are  yet  in  the  state  of  fallen  nature — 
and  that,  as  such,  you  *  ^receive  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  you,  neither  can  you 
know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  discerned?"* 
What  does  this  prove,  but  that  you  want  the  love  of  God, 
the  spiritual  life,  the  vital  perceptions  of  a  soul  quickened 
by  the  Holy  Spirit.''  Proceed  then  no  further.  Persist 
not  in  a  course  which  only  condemns  your  state  of  heart. 
Seek  the  illuminating  and  sanctifying  influence  of  the  Spirit. 
Almost  the  first  truth  you  will  discover,  will  be  the  glory 
and  majesty  of  the  Sabbath;  and  the  next,  that  the  exer- 
cises of  that  day  are  the  festival  and  nourishment  and  ele- 
ment of  the  renewed  and  holy  heart.  Yes,  all  the  trans- 
port of  the  Psalmist,  all  his  repose  and  joy  in  God,  all  his 
mourning  when  banished  from  his  courts,  all  his  longing, 
yea,  fainting  after  his  house,  all  his  perception  of  satisfac- 
tion, and  relief,  and  holy  pleasure  in  his  service,  will  be 
experienced,  in  proportion  as  the  vivifying  Spirit  quickens 
your  soul.  Men  who  are  formal  in  religion  naturally  betray 
an  indiff'erence  to  the  means  of  grace.  As  these  means 
have  little  practical  influence  upon  them,  a  small  mat- 
ter induces  them  to  dispense  with  the  incumbrance;  but  the 

*  1  Cor.  ii.  14. 


112  THE    SABBATH    VINDICATED. 

sincere  Christian  has  his  delight  in  the  Sabbath,  and  in 
the  public  and  private  ordinances  of  religion;  he  is  "planted 
in  the  house  of  the  Lord;"  he  is  at  home  there;  his 
best  pleasures,  his  warmest  hopes,  his  most  tranquil  repose, 
his  plenary  satisfaction  of  soul,  his  liveliest  pledges  and  an- 
ticipations of  a  heavenly  rest,  are  drawn  from  the  sacred 
and  most  gracious  institution,  in  the  services  of  which  he 
waits  to  be  prepared  and  ripened  for  that  upper  temple, 
those  heavenly  mansions,  where  he  "shall  dwell  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord  forever." 


SERMOJV    IV. 


THE  SABBATH  TRANSFERRED  BY  DIVINE  AUTHORITY 
FROM  THE  SEVENTH  TO  THE  FIRST  DAY  OF  THE 
WEEK,  OR  LORD'S  DAY. 


Revelation  i.   10. 

1  was  in  the  spirit  on  the  Lord''s  Day. 

We  have  now  completed  all  that  is  essential  in  the  first 
division  of  our  general  subject.  We  have  proved  the  di- 
vine authority  and  perpetual  obligation  of  a  weekly  religious 
rest.  We  have  traced  it  from  its  institution  in  Paradise 
to  the  time  of  the  Mosaical  dispensation.  We  have  con- 
sidered its  insertion  in  the  ten  commandments,  and  the  dig- 
nity assigned  to  it  by  Moses  and  the  prophets,  as  of  essen- 
tial moral  obligation.  We  have  also  shown  that  it  was 
vindicated  by  our  Lord  from  the  corruptions  of  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  and  left  in  more  than  its  primeval  import- 
ance and  authority.  We  might  now  pass  on  to  the  second 
or  practical  division  of  our  subject,  if  we  were  not  called 
on  first  to  consider  the  transfer  of  the  day  on  which  the 
Sabbath  under  the  gospel  is  kept,  from  the  last  to  the  first 
of  the  week.  As  the  stress  of  the  law  has  from  the  begin- 
ning been  shown  to  lie  on  the  proportion  of  time  between 
the  working  days  and  the  day  of  rest,  the  mere  change  of 
the  particular  period  in  the  week  when  we  celebrate  our 
Sabbath,  cannot  in  itself  be  considered  important.  So 
*10 


1  14  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED    FROM    THE 

long  as  one  day  is  sanctified  out  of  every  seven,  the  pur- 
port of  the  institution  is  accomplished.  Still  it  is  necessary 
to  explain  the  manner  in  which  the  alteration  took  place. 
For  as  the  seventh  day  in  order  was  fixed  by  the  Almighty 
himself  after  the  work  of  the  creation,  and  as  the  Jew  ob- 
served the  same,  or  at  least  considered  his  six  days'  work 
to  precede,  and  not  follow  his  Sabbath,  it  is  important  to 
show  the  authority  which  retarded  its  celebration  under  the 
gospel,  and  fixed'  it  one  day  later  than  the  Jewish  usage. 
Any  change  in  a  divine  command,  though  in  a  point  of 
itself  subordinate,  requires  a  sufficient  reason,  or  we  are 
guilty  of  altering,  of  our  own  minds,  an  authoritative  rule 
of  Almighty  God. 

We  shall  show,  then,  in  the  present  discourse,  that  our 
day  of  religious  rest,  under  the  gospel,  is  not  the  Jewish 
Sabbath,  but  the  Lord's  day.  We  shall  show  that  the 
change  from  the  seventh  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  was 
made  on  the  authority  of  Christ  and  his  apostles.  We  shall 
show  that  the  transfer  took  place  naturally,  and  almost 
necessarily,  from  the  events  attending  the  accomplishment 
of  redemption.  These  points  will  of  necessity  occupy  time 
— perhaps  more  than  any  preceding  topic.  But  they  will 
deserve  all  our  care;  as  the  alteration  in  question,  non- 
essential as  it  is  in  itself,  has  perhaps  more  disturbed  the 
minds  of  uninformed  Christians,  and  more  aided  the  cause 
of  those  who  oppose  the  divine  authority  of  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  than  all  the  other  objections  together. 

To  proceed,  then,  in  order,  we  shall  first  direct  your  at- 
tention to  several  preparatory  circumstances  in  the 
history  of  the  law  of  the  Sabbath,  which  lay  a  probable 
ground  for  the  change  of  the  day:  and  then,  secondly,  the 
manner   in   which  the  change  itself  was  gradually 

INTRODUCED. 

I.  The  preparatory  circumstances  are  numerous. 

For,  first,  the  proportion  of  time,  which  we  have 
more  than  once  alluded  to,  is  not  only  an  obvious  part  of 
the  first  institution  in  Paradise,  but  is  so  prominent  in  the 
wording  of  the  fourth  commandment,  and  in  its  different 
republications,  as  to  lay  a  probable  ground  for  the  change 
of  the  day  of  celebration,  if  any  paramount  reasons  should 
occur.  If  out  of  seven  days,  one  be  sanctified  to  holy  rest, 
the  spirit  as  well  as  the  terms  of  the  law  are  satisfied.    In 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAY.  115 

the  general  course  of  nature,  indeed,  labor  precedes  re- 
pose; and  in  the  primitive  institution,  the  day  of  the  Sab- 
bath fell,  from  the  order  of  creation  and  the  example  of  the 
Almighty,  upon  the  seventh,  or  last  of  the  week.  But  even 
here  the  proportion  of  time  between  the  working  days  and 
the  day  of  rest,  is  laid  as  a  foundation  for  the  whole.  The 
distribution  of  the  work  of  creation  over  six  days,  marks 
the  reason  why  the  seventh  was  given  to  repose;  and  shows 
that  the  essence  of  the  institution  would  be  preserved,  if 
after  six  days  of  labor,  one  of  rest  should  succeed.  Ac- 
cordingl)',  in  the  revival  of  the  Sabbath  at  the  period  of 
the  fall  of  manna,  not  one  word  is  said  of  the  last  day  or 
the  first  day.  All  you  can  collect  is,  that  they  were  to 
gather  manna  six  days,  and  make  a  Sabbath  of  the  sev- 
enth. Again,  the  fourth  commandment,  as  we  have  said, 
is  so  worded  as  to  admit  of  the  change  of  the  day  of  rest, 
without  at  all  violating  the  institution.  And  this  the  divine 
lawgiver  doubtless  so  arranged,  with  a  view  to  the  altera- 
tion which  the  gospel  would  introduce.  The  Jew  could 
never  have  determined  from  this  command  on  what  day  his 
first  Sabbath  was  to  be  kept.  It  enjoins  no  more  than  that 
the  interval  of  time  between  rest  and  rest  should  be  six 
days.  The  proportion  of  the  days  is  the  essential  point. 
The  Christian  Sabbath,  in  the  sense  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, is  as  much  the  seventh  day,  as  the  Jewish  Sab- 
bath was  the  seventh  day.  It  is  kept  after  six  days  labor, 
as  that  was.  It  is  the  seventh  day,  reckoning  from  the 
beginning  of  our  first  working  day,  as  well  as  their  Sab- 
bath was  the  seventh  day,  reckoning  from  the  beginning  of 
their  first  working  day.*  So,  in  ail  the  recapitulations  of 
the  fourth  commandment,  the  substance  is  the  proportion  of 
time  which  we  dedicate  to  God — a  seventh  portion  with 
respect  to  six  days'  labor — and  therefore  the  six  days'  la- 
bor are  always  noted  when  the  seventh  is  spoken  of.     The 

*  "  The  fourth  commandment  does  not  determine  which  day  of  the 
week  we  should  keep  as  a  Sabbath^  but  only  that  we  should  keep  every 
seventh  day,  or  one  day  after  six.  It  says,  'Six  days  shalt  thou  labor, 
and  the  seventh  thou  shalt  rest;'  which  implies  no  more  than  that  after 
six  days  of  labor,  we  should  upon  the  next  to  the  sixth  rest.  The  words 
no  way  determine  where  these  six  days  should  begin,  nor  where  the  rest 
of  the  Sabbath  should  fall:  that  is  supposed  to  be  determined  elsewhere. 
The  precept  in  the  fourth  commandment  is  to  be  taken  generally  of  such 
a  seventh  day  as  God  should  appoint,  or  bad  appointed." — J.  Edwards, 
— and  so  Deau  Milner. 


116  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED    FROM    THE 

day  when  we  begin  to  compute  is,  abstractedly  speaking,  of 
very  little  consequence.  Our  Lord's  day  may  be  called 
the  seventh  in  relation  to  the  six  days'  work,  as  well  as  the 
first  in  reference  to  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  which  preceded  it. 
This  single  circumstance  clears  the  whole  question. 

2.  But  there  is,  in  the  next  place,  the  highest  proba- 
bility that  the  exact  computation  of  time  from  the  creation 
viras  LOST  during  the  bondage  of  Egypt,  and  that 
the  Jewish  Sabbath  was  reckoned  from  some  other  day — 
the  day  of  the  redemption,  for  example — and  not  from  the 
day  when  the  Almighty  rested  after  the  creation.  If  this 
be  the  case,  we  are  thrown  yet  more  completely  upon  the 
proportion  of  time.  Two  thousand  five  hundred  years  of 
an  unwritten  law,  closed  with  centuries  of  oppression  in  the 
Egyptian  captivity,  had  in  all  probability  disturbed  the 
exact  reckoning  of  weeks.  An  irregular  observation  of  the 
sacred  day  had  crept  in  previously — the  impossibility  of 
generally  celebrating  it  at  all,  was  doubtless  one  consequence 
of  their  task-masters'  exactions;*  and  thus,  though  the 
institution  was  by  no  means  effaced  from  their  memory,  the 
order  of  weeks  was  most  likely  interrupted.  Nothing  is 
more  difficult  than  to  preserve,  in  an  early  state  of  science 
and  civilization,  the  accurate  calculation  of  festivals,  espe- 
cially when  recurring  frequently,  and  admitting  of  an  insen- 
sible removal  from  their  relative  position,  by  changes  in  the 
revolutions  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  The  alteration  is  in 
such  a  case  slight,  and  the  order  of  things  is  tolerably  well 
kept  up.  Many  learned  men,  therefore,  agree  in  thinking 
that  it  is  highly  improbable,  that  the  day  observed  as  the 
first  Sabbath  after  the  deliverance  from  Egypt,  was  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  the  day  on  which  the  Almighty  rested 
after  the  creation  of  man.  They  think  it  more  likely  that 
the  redemption  from  bondage  was  the  period  whence  the 
new  reckoning  dated. "f  Certain  it  is  that  the  ten  com- 
mandments are  prefaced  with  a  reason  drawn  from  this 
great  benefit — "I  am  the  Lord  thy  God  which  brought  thee 

*  Coptavi  Egypto  ul)i  serviebas,  etiam  ipso  sabbato  per  vim  te  esse 
coaclum  ad  labores. — Manasseh  Ben  Israel,  on  Dent.  v.  15. 

t  J.  Mede,  Grotius,  Abp.  Bramhall,  J.  Edwards,  Dean  Milner,  Scott, 
all  think  the  reckoning  was  lost,  and  was  re-commenced  at  the  fa!!  of 
manna,  Exodus  xvi.  And  most  of  them  conceive  the  new  computaliou 
began  from  the  day  of  Egyptian  redemption. 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST   DAY.  117 

out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage."* 
And,  what  is  more  important,  at  the  recapitulation  of  the  law 
forty  years  afterwards,  the  same  preface  to  the  decalogue  is 
retained,  but  the  motive  enforcing  the  fourth  commandment 
is  no  longer  drawn  from  the  work  of  creation,  but  from  that 
of  redemption,  as  if  that  were  the  reason  and  date  of  the 
particular  day  on  which  the  celebration  was  renewed. 
"And  remember  that  thou  wast  a  servant  in  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  that  the  Lord  thy  God  brought  thee  out  thence 
through  a  mighty  hand,  and  by  a  stretched-out  arm; — 
THEREFORE  the  Lord  thy  God  commanded  thee  to  keep 
the  Sabbath-day.|  Not  a  word  is  here  said  about  the 
creation,  as  when  the  institution  in  paradise  was  cited  in  the 
first  promulgation  on  Mount  Sinai;  but  the  Sabbath  is  ex- 
pressly appointed  to  commemorate  the  mighty  deliverance 
from  Egypt.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  this  was  the 
day  whence  the  new  computation  started.  When  the  di- 
vine Savior,  then,  appeared  and  wrought  out  an  eternal 
redemption,  it  was  natural,  it  was  almost  necessary,  that 
the  day  should  be  changed  from  the  commemoration  of  the 
type  to  the  commemoration  of  the  antitype.  The  Sabbath 
then  follows  the  mightiest  benefit  in  each  dispensation.  In 
the  patriarchal,  creation;  in  the  Mosaical,  the  redemption 
from  Egypt;  in  the  Christian,  the  spiritual  redemption  m 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  Messiah.  The  essential 
point,  the  proportion  of  time,  is  untouched  throughout.  But 
let  us  proceed  to  observe, 

3.  That  these  things  being  so,  the  very  freedom  asd 

UNIVERSALITY    OF   THE    GOSPEL    DISPENSATION  WOuld  lead 

us  to  think  that  the  same  principle  would  be  carried  on, 
that  the  precise  day  of  the  week  on  which  the  Sabbath 
should  be  kept,  would  be  less  insisted  on,  and  that  a  rule 
would  be  laid  down  applicable  to  all  nations,  in  all  ages, 
and  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  While  men  were  iiew,  and 
lived  nearly  in  the  same  quarter,  as  before  the  dispersion 
of  Babel,  and  during  the  Mosaical  economy,  it  would  be 
easy  to  keep  a  pretty  exact  computation  of  the  succession 
of  time,  as  soon  as  the  date  from  which  the  reckoning  was 
to  begin  was  given — or  if  the  date  was  lost,  as  it  proba- 
bly was  during  the  bondage  of  Egypt,  as  soon  as  the  new 

*  Exod.  XX.  11.  t  Deut.  v.  13. 


118  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED    FROM    THE 

jera  was  once  determined  on.  But  consider  how  different 
is  the  nature  of  the  case  under  the  gospel.  Here  you  have 
not  a  distinct  line  of  patriarchs,  or  a  favored  nation  under 
a  theocracy,  but  a  dispensation  designed  for  the  whole  race 
of  mankind,  whose  disciples  are  multiplied  in  every  quarter 
of  the  globe,  and  live  under  all  meridians,  and  with  every 
variety  of  civil  government  and  scientific  improvement. 
An  appointed  season  dependent  on  a  succession  of  days, 
and  losing  its  validity  if  the  day  be  miscalculated,  seems, 
therefore,  not  very  likely  to  be  established  under  such  a 
dispensation.  Of  two  navigators  sailing  round  the  world 
in  opposite  directions,  one  would  lose  and  the  other  gain  a 
day  in  his  computation — there  would  be  a  variation  of  two 
days.  Now,  which  would  be  the  seventh  day  of  the  week 
to  each  of  the  navigators.''  When  Pitcairn's  Island  in  the 
South  Seas  was  visited  a  few  years  since  by  an  English 
ship,  our  voyagers,  on  the  day  when  they  arrived,  which 
was  Saturday,  found  the  islanders  observing  Sunday;  the 
English  ship  and  the  islanders  having  arrived  at  the  island 
by  sailing  from  England  in  opposite  directions.  Under  the 
gospel,  then,  we  might  expect  that  our  duty  would  be  fixed 
upon  a  plain  and  easy  computation;  that  after  six  days  of 
labor  there  should  succeed  one  day  of  rest,  without  troub- 
ling men  in  all  the  regions  of  the  earth,  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, with  reckoning  up  the  course  of  weeks  or  the 
order  of  days  from  the  beginning,  which  it  would  be  utterly- 
impossible  for  them  to  settle,  if  it  were  material. 

How  admirably  the  wisdom  of  God  has  provided  for  this 
in  the  arrangement  and  wording  of  the  law  of  the  Sabbath 
from  the  first,  I  need  not  observe.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to 
remark  how  naturally  the  change  of  the  Jewish  day  of  ob- 
servance, to  the  Christian,  would  fall  in  with  this  design, 
and  expedite  the  practical  execution  of  it. 

I  think  one  would  allow  these  remarks  to  be  almost 
enough  for  the  point  in  hand.  Suppose  any  should  say,  the 
day  of  celebrating  the  sacred  rest  of  religion  has  been 
changed  under  the  gospel  to  honor  our  Lord's  accomplish- 
ment of  redemption,  and  has  been  so  kept,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  by  the  whole  church  of  Christ  from  the  very  age 
of  the  apostles;  the  essential  law  of  the  Sabbath,  the  pro- 
portion of  time,  being  always  preserved  inviolate;  I  should 
conceive  such  a  statement  would  be  satisfactory.     Nor  do 


SEVENTH    TO     THE    FIRST    DAY.  119 

I  think  any  thing  would  have  been  objected  to  such  a  state- 
ment if  the  Jewish  seventh-day-Sabbath  had  not  been  as- 
sumed to  be  the  same  with  the  seventh-day-Sabbath  in  para- 
dise. This  confuses  the  subject.  It  seems  to  make  tive 
seventh  day  a  fundamental  matter;  whilst  the  real  sub- 
stance of  the  institution,  the  measure  of  working  and  rest- 
ing days,  is  forgotten.  Doubtless,  also,  those  who  had 
first  feigned  an  anticipated  history,  and  then  banished  the 
Sabbath  from  the  moral  law,  and  lastly,  accused  our  Sa- 
vior of  repealing  that  command,  have  been  ready  enough  to 
seize  on  the  merely  non-essential  circumstance  of  the  change 
of  the  day  of  celebration,  to  prop  up  their  falling  cause» 
And  thus  it  has  happened  that  this  subordinate,  has,  in 
truth  become  a  primary,  question,  from  the  accidental  im- 
portance attached  to  it.     But  we  proceed. 

4.  The  word  of  prophecy  does  not,  indeed,  express- 
ly announce  a  change  of  the  day  of  the  Sabbath,  but  it 
affords  such  intimations  as  are  quite  consistent  with  such  a 
transfer.  The  "old  creation" — the  state  of  things  under 
the  law — shall  not  be  remembered,  but  the  "new  creation'^ 
— the  state  of  things  under  the  gospel — shall."*^  The 
Christian  church  shall  have  her  ministers,  solemnities.  Sab- 
baths, and  holy  ordinances,  all  referring  directly  to  the 
Messiah.  A  new  dispensation  shall  be  introduced,  in 
which  the  alteration  shall  be  so  great  and  extensive  as  icy 
be  fitly  compared  to  "new  heavens  and  a  new  earth," 
which  shall  efface  the  memory  of  the  old.  Read  the  glow- 
ing language  itself:  "Behold,  I  create  new  heavens  and  a 
new  earth;  and  the  former  shall  not  be  remembered  nor 
come  to  mind."  "As  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth 
which  I  will  make  shall  remain  before  me,  saith  the  Lord, 
so  shall  your  seed  and  your  name  remain.  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  that  from  one  new  moon  to  another,  and  from 
one  Sabbath  to  another,  shall  all  flesh  come  to  worship 
before  me,  saith  the  Lord."| 

But  a  more  explicit  prediction,  embracing  the  change  of 
the  day  of  celebrating  the  Sabbath,  or,  at  the  least,  giving 
an  intimation  of  it,  is  found  in  the  118th  Psalm.  "The 
stone  which  the  builders  refused  is  become  the  head-stone 
of  the  corner.     This  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvel- 

*  Called  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  "the  world  to  come,"  ii.  5. 
t  Isa.  Ixv.  175  Ixvi.  22,  235  and  J.  Edwards  on  thera. 


120  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED     FROM    THE 

lous  in  our  eyes."*  Here  the  stone  spoken  of  is  Christ; 
the  passage  being  six  times  applied  to  him  in  the  New 
Testament.  He  was  rejected  of  the  builders  when  he  was 
put  to  death;  he  was  made  the  head  of  the  corner  when  he 
rose  triumphant  from  the  tomb.  While  Christ  lay  in  the 
grave,  he  lay  as  a  stone  cast  away  by  the  builders;  but 
when  raised  from  the  dead,  he  became  the  head  of  the  cor- 
ner."f  This  was  a  great  and  marvellous  act.  Now  the 
day  when  this  was  done,  as  we  are  next  taught,  is  appoint- 
ed to  be  the  day  of  the  rejoicing  of  the  church.  "This  is 
the  day  which  the  Lord  hath  made;  we  will  rejoice  and  be 
glad  in  it. "J  To  what  day  does  the  prophet  here  refer.'' 
On  what  day  did  Christ  rise  from  the  dead?  Was  it  not 
on  the  first  day  of  the  week?  Was  not  this  the  very  day 
of  triumph,  the  glorious  day  of  Messiah's  being  made  the 
head  of  the  corner.?  Does  the  psalmist  refer,  then,  to  any 
other  day?  Or  does  he  not  rather  refer  to  this  most  dis- 
tinguished and  peculiar  one?  To  this,  no  doubt.  And 
what  does  he  say  shall  be  the  employment  of  it  under  the 
New  Testament?  "This,  is  the  day  which  the  Lord  hath 
made;  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it."  The  pre- 
diction is  more  decisive,  because  the  celebration  of  public 
worship  is  the  topic  which  introduces  it,  "open  to  us  the 
gates  of  righteousness;  I  will  go  into  them,  and  will  praise 
the  Lord:  this  gate  of  the  Lord,  into  which  the  righteous 
shall  enter. "§  Here  then  is  an  intimation,  to  say  the 
least,  that  the  Christian  day  of  joy  shall  fall  on  the  day 
of  the  resurrection  of  Messiah — which  the  Lord's  day  hath 
done  ever  since  the  promulgation  of  the  gospel.  We  dwell 
not,  however,  on  this  topic.  A  further  one  has  greater 
weight. 

5.  In  the  next  and   most  perfect  dispensation  of  the  di- 
vine  grace — the  gospel — such  a    complete  revolution 

ACTUALLY  took  PLACE  IN  THE  WHOLE  STATE  OF  THE 

CHURCH,  that  it  seems  natural  that  so  important  a  branch 
of  religious  observances  as  the  Sabbath,  should  follow  the 
new  order  of  things.  This  remark  strengthens  the  intima- 
tions of  the  prophetic  word  which  we  have  just  noted,  and 
falls  in  entirely  with  our  previous  topics — the  preparatory 

*  Ps.  cxviii.  22,  23.         t  Dr.  Lightfoot  and  J.  Edwards. 
X  Ps.  cxviii,  24.  $  Ver.  19,  20. 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAY.  121 

circumstances  in  the  terms  and  arrangements  of  the  law, 
the  probable  change  of  reckoning  in  the  wilderness,  and 
the  demands  of  an  universal  religion.  The  Sabbath,  in 
the  progress  of  ages,  was  continually  acquiring  new  ends 
by  new  manifestations  of  the  covenant  of  redemption;  and 
those  new  ends  coming  to  their  height  in  the  gospel,  justify 
a  correspondent  alteration  in  a  subordinate  point  of  the 
sabbatical  institution.  "The  priesthood  being  changed," 
says  the  apostle,  "there  is  made  of  necessity  a  change  also 
in  the  law."*  We  have  a  new  Mediator,  a  new  covenant, 
new  promises,  a  new  way  of  access,  a  new  spirit  of  holy 
confidence,  a  new  high  priest;  and  therefore  a  new  object  in 
the  computation  of  the  weekly  Sabbath — the  glory  and  tri- 
umph of  the  Mediator  in  his  resurrection.  These  are  term- 
ed in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  "the  world  to  come."! 
This  constitutes  what  the  prophets  call  as  we  have  just 
seen,  "the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth;  and  which  St. 
Peter  denominates  by  the  same  strong  and  figurative  ex- 
pression.J  These  form  that  "dispensation  of  the  fulness  of 
times  when  God  gathers  together  all  things  in  Christ,  both 
things  in  heaven  and  things  in  earth."§  Not  one  thing 
only  is  changed,  but  all.  Accordingly,  "the  former  shall 
not  be  remembered  nor  come  to  mind."||  The  Sabbath, 
then,  probably  follows  the  new  course.  And  this  appears 
the  more  likely,  from  the  circumstance  of  the  new  creation 
being  described  as  leading  to  the  rest  of  the  Mediator  after 
he  had  completed  it,  even  as  the  old  creation  led  to  the 
rest  of  the  Almighty  after  he  had  finished  his  work — a  rest 
granted  in  each  case  as  a  boon  to  man,  and  pledging  that 
eternal  rest  with  God  in  heaven,  in  which  it  terminates, 
and  which  is  the  ultimate  felicity  proposed  in  all  the  dispen- 
sations of  grace.  We  cannot  enter  into  the  details  of  the 
apostle's  noble  argument  on  this  subject. IT     We  observe 

*Heb.  vii.  12.      tHeb.  ii.  5.       t^  Peter  iii.  13.      $Eph.  i.  10. 

lllsa.  Ixv.  17. 

i     TT  "So  I  sware  in  my  wrath,  They  shall  not  enter  my  rest.    So  we  see 

they  could  not  enter  in,  because  of  unbelief.    Let  us  therefore  fear  lest  a 

promise  being  left  us,"  (by  the  gospel,)  ''of  entering  into  his  rest,"  (that 

of  the  Lord  Christ,)  "any  of  you  should  seem  to  come  short  of  it.    For 

we  which  have  believed,  do  enter  into  rest,"  (the  Christian  Sabbath  and 

rest,  as  a  pledge  and  preparation  of  the  heavenly.)    "For  he  spake  in  a 

certain  place"  (Gen.  ii.  2,)  "of  the  seventh  day  in  this  wise,  and  God  did 

rest  the  seventh  day  from  all  his  works.    And  in  this  place  again," 

(Psalra  xcT.  11.)  "If  they  shall  enter  into  my  rest.    There  remaineth 

11 


122  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED     FKUM    THE 

only,  that  as  at  the  first  creation,  the  Almighty  was  pleas- 
ed to  work  six  days,  and  then  rest  on  the  seventh,  in  or- 
der to  exhibit  an  instructive  lesson  for  man's  imitation;  and 
as  his  resting  on  the  seventh  day  was  a  sufficient  intima- 
tion of  the  precise  day  of  Sabbath  appointed  for  man;  so 
in  the  second  creation  Christ  wrought  his  work  of  restora- 
tion and  redemption  during  his  ministry,  and  then  rested, 
and  was  refreshed  from  that  kind  of  work  by  which  he  laid 
the  foundations  of  "the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth;" 
and  thus  he  marked  out  precisely  the  new  day  of  sabbatis- 
ing  under  the  gospel,  the  first  of  the  week.  Then  "he 
ceased  from  his  own  works,  as  God  did  from  his;"  then  he 
entered  by  his  resurrection  into  his  rest;  then  he  rested*, 
and  was  refreshed,  and  saw  of  "the  travail  of  his  soul  and^ 
was  satisfied;"  then  he  left,  in  the  new  day  of  Sabbath, 
a  new  pledge  of  heavenly  felicity  to  his  church. 

Thus  to  each  dispensation  of  the  divine  covenant  a  pecu- 
liar rest  was  attached — to  the  patriarchal,  to  the  Mosaical, 
to  the  evangelical.  The  patriarchal  was  founded  in  the 
first  creation,  after  which  God  ceased  from  his  works,  pro- 
posed to  man  a  rest  with  himself  in  heaven,  and  appointed 
a  Sabbath  as  a  remembrance  of  the  one  and  the  pledge  of 
the  other.  The  Mosaical  dispensation  was  founded  in  th^ 
redemption  from  Egypt,  when  God  again  ceased  from  his 
mighty  works  of  forming  and  creating  a  people;*  proposed 
a  rest  with  himself  to  man,  and  gave  him  the  pledge  of  it 
in  the  Jewish  Sabbath.  The  gospel  dispensation  is  found- 
ed in  the   new  creation  wrought  by  the  Lord  Christ,  who 

therefore  a  rest/'  (a  day  of  sabbatical  rest  in  earth  and  heaven,  and  the 
one  the  pledge  of  the  other.)  "for  the  people  of  God.  For  he  that  is  en- 
tered into  his  rest,"  (even  Jesus  our  Lord,  the  author  of  all  this  new  crea- 
tion,) "he  also  hath  ceased  from  his  own  works"  (of  redemption  and  new 
creation)  "as  God  did  from  his/'  (of  the  old  creation.)  "Let  us  labor, 
therefore,  to  enter  into  that  rest,"  (ofheaven,of  which  our  Christian  weekly 
Sabbath  is  a  pledge  and  foretaste.)  "lest  any  man  fall  after  the  same  ex- 
ample of  unbelief."  I  have  inserted  a  few  words  of  parenthesis  from 
Dr.  J.  Owen,  J.  Edwards,  Dwight,  Scott,  Arch.  Pott,  (fee.  who  concur 
in  the  interpretation;  which  is,  in  fact,  the  only  one  that  can  stand. 

*  "This  people  I  have  formed  for  myself." — Isaiah  xliii.  2.  And  so 
in  many  other  passages,  the  Mosaical  covenant  is  termed  a  creation,  the 
work  of  God's  hands,  <fec.  It  is  striking  also  to  observe  that  the  last 
glorious  state  of  the  church  terminating  in  the  rest  of  heaven,  or  perhaps 
the  heavenly  state  itself,  is  described  in  the  apocalypse  under  the  same 
image;  "And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth." — Rev.  xxi  L — 
Oinen,  Edwards. 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAY.  123 

redeems,  rene^vs,  and  writes  his  law  upon  the  heart  of  man 
by  his  Spirit,  and  introduces  a  new  and  more  spiritual  state 
of  religion.  From  this  creating  work  Christ  ceased,  at 
his  resurrection;  he  was  then  refreshed  in  the  view  of  his 
works,  and  proposed  his  own  rest  to  be  called  after  his 
name,  as  the  sign  of  the  new  covenant  and  the  pledge  of 
the  heavenly  rest  (the  keeping  of  a  Sabbath,  the  sabbatis- 
ing)  which  remains  to  his  people.  And  as  the  day  of  re- 
pose followed  certainly  the  precise  order  of  working  and  of 
rest  in  the  first  dispensation,  and  was  altered,  as  we  prob- 
ably conclude,  in  the  Mosaical,  to  follow  the  day  of  rederap- 
^tion;  so  in  the  last  and  most  perfect  dispensation,  it  is 
*  again  changed  as  to  the  precise  time  of -its  celebration,  to 
dignify  the  day  of  spiritual  redemption;  and  thus  the  patri- 
archal and  Jewish  Sabbath  become  the  Lord's  day. 

We  can  suppose  nothing  more  fitting,  more  necessary,  so 
to  speak,  than  so  slight  and  yet  significant  a  change! 
What!  have  we  a  new  church,  the  gospel;  new  ordinances 
in  that  church,  ceremonial  worship  taken  down  and  spirit- 
ual set  up;  new  sacraments,  baptism  and  the  Lord's  sup- 
per, for  circumcision  and  the  passover;  a  new  Mediator, 
Christ  instead  of  Moses;  a  new  covenant,  founded  on  the 
better  promises  of  the  gospel;  a  new  command  of  that 
covenant,  to  love  one  another;  a  new  object  of  divine  wor- 
ship and  confidence,  the  Lord  Jesus; — in  a  word,  have  we 
all  things  new;  and  have  we  not  a  new  Sabbath  fitted  for 
all  this  new  creation?*  Yes,  the  Jewish  rest  is,  under  the 
gospel,  THE  Lord's  day. 

6.  One  more  indication  must  be  noticed,  which  binds 
together  all  the  preceding.     The  claims  which  Christ 

ADVANCED  DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  OF  LEGISLATING  FOR 
THE  SABBATH,  AS  ITS  SOVEREIGN  AND  LORD,  layS  a  pro- 
bable ground  for  the  alteration  of  the  day  of  its  observance, 
and  even  intimates  that  some  such  change  would  take  place. 
^  One  of  the  most  striking  of  these  claims  is  in  the  passage 
which  we  formerly  considered. |  Jesus  there  asserts  first 
the  grand  moral  end  of  the  Sabbath — then  cautions  us 
against  the  perverse  traditions  which  would  render  man  a 
slave  to  the  external  forms  of  that  institution — and  lastly, 
draws  this  emphatic  and  oracular  conclusion,  "Therefore 

»  Lighlfoot.  t  Mark  ii.  27,  28,  Serinon  III. 


124  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED    FROM   THE 

THE  SON  OF  MAN  IS  LORD  ALSO  OF  THE  SABBATH,''  ex- 
alted as  that  appointment  confessedly  is,  most  ancient  in 
time,  first  in  dignity,  most  universal  as  to  extent,  most  du- 
rable and  permanent  in  point  of  continuance — he  is  Lord 
even  of  the  Sabbath,  to  claim  it  as  his  own,  to  transfer  the 
day  of  its  celebration,  to  fix  on  it  his  own  name,  to  sweep 
away  human  traditions,  and  re-establish  it  in  all  its  original 
simplicity  and  compassionate  aspect  upon  man.  Yes,  Jesus 
is  the  "Lord  of  the  Sabbath;"— "the  heir  of  all  things,'^ 
"the  first-born  from  the  dead,"  the  "head  over  all  things 
to  his  church,"  "the  prince  of  life,"  the  "only  begotten  of 
the  Father,"  the  "Lord  of  all."  He  is  not  like  Moses 
"a  servant,"  but  has  power  "in  his  own  house,"  as  a  "Son," , 
to  dispose  of  the  affairs  of  that  house  as  he  may  please.* 
With  this  high  claim,  accords  another  which  he  made  on 
the  very  same  occasion — the  defence  of  his  disciples  when 
accused  wrongfully  of  having  violated  the  Sabbath.    "But 

I  SAY  UNTO  YOU,  IN  THIS  PLACE  IS  ONE  GREATER  THAN 

THE  TEMPLE,!  glorious  as  it  is,  surrounded  with  tokens  of 
the  divine  majesty,  the  seat  of  religious  ordinances,  and 
the  place  of  the  immediate  manifestations  of  the  Deity. 
"There  is  one  greater  than  the  temple," — which  is  a  figure 
merely  of  my  human  nature,  and  derives  all  its  dignity  from 
the  indwelling  Deity.  "There  is  one  greater  than  the 
temple," — and  therefore  one  authorized  to  regulate  the 
service  of  the  temple,  and  fix  the  day  of  religious  assemblies 
in  his  church. 

Once  more,  when  accused  of  the  Jews,  most  probably 
before  the  Sanhedrim,  on  the  very  same  subject — a  sup- 
posed violation  of  the  Sabbath — how  sublime  is  his  reply  I 

"My    FATHER    WORKETH     HITHERTO,    AND    I    WORK. "J 

What  a  claim  is  implied  in  these  words!  The  interruption, 
indeed,  given  by  the  Jews,  upon  his  uttering  this  language  of 
Deity,  leaves  us  in  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  precise  im- 
port of  the  argument;  but  if  it  be  considered  as  only  an 
assumption  of  divine  operations  generally,  it  is  still  conclu- 
sive as  to  his  power  over  the  Sabbath  and  the  Jewish  cor- 
ruptions of  the  law  of  it.  But  if  we  refer  it,  with  Dr. 
Lightfoot,  to  his  working  like  his  Father,  who  ever  acts  by 
his  providence,  even  upon  the  Sabbath,  though  he  rested 

*  Heb.  iii,  5,  6,  f  Matt,  xii.  6,.  t  John  v.  17. 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAY.  125 

from  the  works  of  creation  on  that  day,  and  blessed  and 
sanctified  it;  the  argument  of  our  Lorrd  is  more  direct  to 
his  immediate  purpose.  It  then  imports,  'As  my  Father, 
though  he  hath  ceased  from  the  act  of  creation,  worketh  still 
in  all  succeeding  time,  the  Sabbath  not  excepted,  in  sustain- 
ing man,  rescuing  him  from  danger,  recovering  him  from 
sickness,  sending  him  rain  from  heaven  and  fruitful  shovrers, 
causing  his  sun  to  rise  upon  him;  so  I,  the  Son  of  God, 
work  also  in  carrying  on  my  providential  actings  continu- 
ally, and  even  on  the  Sabbath;  fulfilling  my  divine  mission, 
healing  diseases  when  occasions  present  themselves,  prov- 
ing the  truth  of  my  doctrine  by  enabling  an  impotent  man 
to  bear  away  his  couch  before  my  assembled  adversaries, 
vindicating  the  Sabbath  from  unauthorized  impositions, 
claiming  it  as  my  proper  institution,  and  fixing  the  day  of 
its  observance  after  my  own  pleasure.' 

Here,  then,  are  laid  grounds  for  the  alteration  of  the 
day.  What  more  appropriate  than  the  Lord's  day,  to 
mark  the  authority  of  ''the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath?"  "If 
one  greater  than  the  temple  be  here,"  what  more  becoming 
than  that  the  worship  of  the  New  Testament  temple  should 
follow  his  resurrection?  If  as  ''the  Father  worketh  hither- 
to, so  he  works,"  what  more  natural  than  that  he  should 
display  his  power  in  making  the  Sabbath  his  own,  working 
on  it  his  deeds  of  mercy  and  grace,  and  fixing  it  in  his  own 
kingdom  as  a  trophy  of  his  resurrection? 

Yas;  these  indications  virtually  prove  the  point  in  hand. 
We  may  now  venture  to  profess  ahd  say,  "The  first  day 
is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  our  Redeemer;"  "The  Lord 
Jesus  hath  blessed  the  first  day  and  hallowed  it:"  even  as 
the  ancient  church  professed  and  said,  "The  Lord  hath 
blessed  the  seventh  day  and  hallowed  it" — "The  seventh 
day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  our  God."  In  a  word,  the 
last  declaration  which  our  Savior  made  in  commissioning 
his  apostles  after  his  resurrection,  includes  an  unlimited 
power  over  his  church,  and  therefi^re  the  authority  of  chang- 
ing the  day  of  celebrating  its  weekly  rest:  "all  power 
is  given  me  in  heaven  and  earth;  go  ye,  therefore,  and 
teach    all   nations — teaching  them  to  observe   all   things, 

WHATSOEVER    I    COMMAND    YOU."* 

*  Matt,  xxviii.  18—20. 
*]1 


126  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED    FROM    THE 

We  proceed,  then,  to  consider 

II.  The  manner  in  which  the  change  of  the  Sabbath 
from  the  last  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  was  gradu- 
ally INTRODUCED  BY  THE  DIVINE  AUTHORITY  OF  OUR 
LORD    AND    HIS    APOSTLES. 

After  such  preparatory  indications  of  the  transfer  of  the 
day  of  rest,  and  such  arrangements,  from  the  very  begin- 
ning, to  admit  of  it,  much  will  not  be  necessary  to  show  the 
divine  authority  of  it,  when  actually  introduced.  For  the^ 
change  being  in  itself  subordinate,  and  in  no  way  touching 
the  substance  of  the  command,  nay,  being  agreeable  to 
the  very  tvording  of  that  command,  we  want  nothing  but 
sufficient  intimations  of  the  will  of  God,  to  warrant  our 
compliance  with  the  practice  of  the  universal  church  from 
the  days  of  the  apostles.  When  an  objector  says,  he  re- 
quires an  express  injunction,  in  precise  and  formal  terras, 
for  the  observation  of  the  Lord^s  day,  he  speaks  without 
consideration.  If  he  requires  an  express  injunction  in  pre- 
cise and  formal  terms  for  the  religious  dedication  of  one 
day  in  seven  to  God,  we  have  it  in  the  institution  in  Para- 
dise, and  in  the  words  of  the  fourth  commandment.  But 
if  he  requires  such  an  express  and  formal  injunction  for  a 
subordinate  change  in  the  day  of  the  week  when  that  Sab- 
bath should  be  kept,  we  reply,  that  the  case  does  not  re- 
quire it.  If  God  had  so  made  our  faculties,  that  we  were 
not  capable  of  receiving  intimations  of  his  will,  even  in 
matters  not  affecting  the  substance  of  a  commandment,  in 
any  other  way  than  by-a  new  and  express  injunction,  there 
would  be  some  reason  to  require  one.  But  God  hath  given 
us  such  understandings,  that  we  are  capable  of  ascertaining, 
his  will  in  such  cases,  in  another  manner.  If  God  deals 
with  us,  then,  agreeably  to  our  nature  and  in  a  way  suita- 
ble to  our  capacities,  it  is  enough:  and  he  may  expect  our 
notice  and  observance,  and  does  expect  our  notice  and  ob- 
servance, in  the  same  manner  as  if  he  had  made  known 
his  will  in  express  terms. ^  In  a  case,  then,  like  the  pres- 
ent, we  want  no  direct  precept.  The  perpetual  moral  ob- 
ligation of  giving  one  day  to  God,  after  every  six  days' 
labor,  is  confessed.  The  institution  has  been  preserved  on 
this  footing  through  every  dispensation.  It  is  honored  and 
left  in  all  its  force  by  Christ  and  his   apostles.     There  is 

*  J.  Edwards. 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAT.  127 

no  room  then   for  a  new  precept,  as  for  a  duty  unknown. 
On  a  point  not  in  itself  essential  to  the  command,  the  tacit  - 
example  of  our  Lord, — the  time  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  chief 
promise  of  the  New  Testament, — the  doctrine  and  conduct     ^0 
of  the  inspired  apostles, — the  events   in  providence   which* 
swept   away  th?  Jewish  polity  and   Sabbath, — the  univer-si^    M 
sal  practice  of  the,  Christian   church   in  the  primitive  and     ** 
all  following  ages, — and  the  uninterrupted  blessing  of  God 
resting  from  their  time  to  the  present  on  the   transferred 
day; — these  constitute  sufficient   intimations  of  the   will  of  *     r 
God.      We  deduce  the  divine  authority  of  the  change  of 
the  weekly  rest  from  the  Jewish  to  the  Lord's  day,  as  cer- 
tainly from   such  intimations,  as  we  deduce  the  divine   au- 
thority of  the  essential  duty  of  a  weekly  rest  itself,  from  the 
transactions  in  Paradise  and   the  formal   and  express  in- 
junctions of  the  moral  law. 

I.      Our   Savior,  then,  after  his    passion,    began    to 
INTRODUCE  the  actual  change  tacitly,  and  gently^  by  his     , 
own  divine  conduct.     The  first  day  of  the  week  is  the  day 
of  his  resurrection.    In  the  eternal  councils  of  the  Almighty     *» 
was  this,  and   no  other,  day  fixed.     The   whole   arrange- 
ment of  the  institution  of  the  passover  had  from   the  first  a 
respect  to  his  great  fulfilment  of  this  typical  sacrifice.     Ac- 
cordingly it  is   repeatedly   and  emphatically  noted  by  the 
evangelists  as  the   precise   day  of  his   conquest  over   the      ^ 
grave.     He  foretold  it  himself.     The  Jews  were  aware  of 
the  expected  fact,  and  prepared,  as  they  could,  against  it. 
His   appearances  afte'r  his   resurrection,  marked   the   day     - 
which  was  to   become  the  Lord's.     Having  risen   on  that 
blessed  morn,  he   manifested   himself  four  times  before  its 
close,  to  his  disciples;  and  thus  celebrated,  or  rather  con- 
stituted the  first  Christian  Sabbath,  on  its  new  day  of  being     ' 
observed,  by  his  own  presence.     All  the  evangelists  seem 
to  delight  in  marking  that  it  was  on   the  first    day  of  the      ^ 
week,   and  no  other,  that  these  transactions  took    place. 
St.  Matthew  tells  us  that  at   the   '^very  dawn   of  the   first 
day,"  the  two  Marys  had  the  early  tidings  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  their  Lord.       St.    Mark   informs   us,   that  "very 
early  in  the  morning,"  that  glorious  event  occurred.     St. 
Luke  relates   the   same   with   the   same  notification  of  its 
being  on  the  first  day  of  the  week.     St.   John   bears  testi- 
mony, that  "on  the  first  day  of  the  week  cometh  Mary, 


t 

128  SABBATH  ^TRANSFERRED    FROM  THE 

■when  it  was  yet  dark,  unto  the   sepulchre,"  and  there  wit- 
nesseth  the  first  manifestation   of  her  risen  Rede^er.* 
The   second  appearance,  to   the  three  women,  was  vouch- 
safed the  same  day.t     The  journey  to   Emmaus,  and  the 
being  *'known  in  the  breaking   of  bread,"   was   the  third 
visit.     And  the  fourth  closed  the  first   Christian   Sabbath. 
It  was  made  to  the  assembled  disciples,  who  were  already 
convened  on  that  day,  ready  to  begin,  as  it  were,  that  joy- 
ful season  the  moment  their  Lord  should   appear,  to  open 
its   solemnities.     Accordingly,  *Hhe  same  day,  at  evening, 
being  the  first  day  of  the  week,  when   the  doors  were  shut, 
where  the  disciples  were  assembled,  for  fear  of  the  Jews, 
came  Jesus  and  stood  in  the   midst,  and  saith  unto   them, 
Peace  be  unto  you.       Then   were  the  disciples  glad  when 
they  saw  the  Lorjd"J     Their  joy  in  the  resurrection  of  their 
Master  now  began  the  Lord's  day;  to  mark  out  and  separate 
which  more  distinctly,  the   intervening  week   is  allowed  to 
pass  without  any  repetition   of  his  visits.      But   lo,  after 
six  days'  work,  the   day  of  rest  returns,   and   the  second 
Lord's  day  is  honored  likewise  with  the  presence  of  Christ; 
the  evangelist  especially  noting  the  time  of  this  manifesta- 
tion, which   is  not  done  as   to   any  other,   by  any  of  the 
evangelists.     "And  after  eight  days  again, "§  (the  Jews 
including  the  portion  of  the  days  from  which,  and  to   which, 
they  reckon)  "his  disciples  were  within,  and   Thomas  with 
them;  then  came  Jesus,  the  doors  being  shut,  and  stood  in 
the  midst."     "This  second  meeting  on  the  same  day  of  the 
week,"  says  Paley,  "has  all  the  appearance  of  an  appoint- 
ment, a  design  to  meet  on  that  particular  day." 

Nothing  is  said  as  to  the  time  on  which  the  follovring 
manifestations  were  made;  nor  do  we  want  them.  They 
would  have  introduced  the  new  day,  not  so  gently  and 
gradually,  as  we  shall  see  it  was  our  Savior's  intention  to 
introduce  it.  It  now,  as  it  were,  insinuates  itself  by  the 
very  circumstances  in  which  the  apostles  were  placed.  The 
Lord  of  the  Sabbath  was  lying  in  the  grave  on  the  precise 
day  of  the  Jewish  rest.  It  would  have  been  impossible  for 
the  mourning  disciples  to  have  celebrated  the  praises  of  the 
great  Creator,  of  the  Redeemer  from  Egyptian  bondage,  of 

*'  John  XX.  19.  t  Matt,  xxviil.  9—11. 

\  John  XX.  19,  20.  §  John  xx.  2G. 


^  SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAY.  129 

the  God  who  promised,  and  had  given  them,  the  Messiah 
and  Savior,  whilst  that  Messiah  and  Savior  was  in  the 
tomb,  and  all  the  prospects  of  his  kingdom  were  shrouded 
with  the  darkness  of  death.  That  last  Jewish  Sabbath  was 
no  Sabbath  to  them;  but  a  day  of  sorrow,  dejection,  an- 
guish, consternation.  The  spouse  could  not  rejoice  whilst 
the  bridegroom  lay  buried  in  the  grave.  But  when  the 
Lord  arose  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  then,  and.  not  be- 
fore, were  ''the  disciples  glad."  Then  did  their  sab- 
bath begin;  the  necessity  of  the  case  changed  the  day 
of  peaceful  happy  rest  in  the  worship  and  praise  of 
God,  from  the  Jewish  Sabbath  to  the  Lord's  day.  The 
celebration  was  retarded  not  forgotten.  The  old  day  was 
buried  with  Christ — the  new  arose  with  him.  He  had  in 
the  old  creation  rested  (as  being. 4he  author,  one  with  the 

^Father,  of  that  six  days'  work)  on  the  seventh  day  and 
sanctified  it;  but  now  as  the  author  of  the  new  work  of 
creation,  being  detained  in  the  prison  of  the  grave  on  the 
old  seventh  day,  he  takes  another  day  to  rest  in,  the  fol- 
lowing or  first  of  the  week,  which  thus  becomes  the  Lord's 
day.  Every  thing  essential  in  the  command  goes  on  as  it 
did;  the  non-essential  point  of  the  precise  time  is  changed, 
or  rather  delayed,  a  single  day,  to  wait  for  its  rising  Mas- 
ter, and  assume  a  new  dignity,  and  be  a  meiporial  of  the 
manifestations  of  a  new  and  greater  creation. 

2.  The  first  day  thus  began  to'  be  introduced,  is  next 
marked  by  the  gift  of  the  great  promise  of  the 
dispensation  which  it  was  to   characterize.      This  will 

*  demand  only  a  moment's  notice.  The  day  of  pentecost  has 
been  abundantly  shown  by  learned  min*  to  have  fallen  on 
the  Lord's  day.  The  disciples  are  assembled  with  one 
accord  in  one  place — the  usual  place  of  prayer:  "when  sud- 
denly there  came  a  sound  from  heaven  as  of  a  mighty 
rushing  wind;  and  they  were  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost. "t 
By  this  gift  the  gospel  church  is  first  erected,  and  its  her- 
alds endued  with  power  from  on  high.  Thus  the  great  dis- 
tinguishing benefit  of  the  New  Testament  being  vouchsafed 
on  the  Lord's  day,  confirms  the  newly  instituted  season, 
which  is  to  be  henceforth  known  as  the  Christian  Sabbath. 
The  Holy  Ghost  descended  upon  it.     The  author  tff  the 

V 

*  Lightfoot,  Dwight,  ^c.  t  Acts  ii.  2. 

*'  .»     •     -. 

•        .         .   . 


130  SABBATH    TRAN'SFERRED    FROM    THE 

"new  creation"  had  already  arisen  upon  the  same  ^ay. 
We  join  then  these  topics  of  joy  to  the  original  praises  due 
for  the  glories  of  the  first  creation;  and  our  Lord's  day  is 
dedicated  to  our  triune  God  and  Savior — it  is  dedicated  to 
God  the  Father,  as  the  day  on  which  the  praises  of  the 
most  noble  creatures  for  their  first  production  are  offered — 
it  is  dedicated  to  God  the  Son,  whose  resurrection  this  day 
was  the  new  creation  of  the  world — it  is  dedicated  to  God 
the  Holy  Ghost,  who  on  this  day  descended  visibly  upon 
the  apostles,  as  if  he  would  proclaim  aloud  that  he  hallow- 
ed it  unto  himself.*  The  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  t.h,e 
day  of  pentecost,  honors  and  marks  out  the  Lord's  day. 

HI.  The  doctrine  and  conduct  op  thi  apostles 
will,  in  the  next' place,  be  found  to  bring  in  mor%  deci- 
dedly, yet  still  tenderly-and  gradually,  the  new  day  of  the 
Sabbath.  * 

They  were  endtied  with  the  Holy  Sjgirit  granted  at  this 
very  season,  on  purpose  to  found  the  gospel  dispensation, 
and  settle  it&  order  and  worship.  The  conduct  of  thes^  f 
holy  men,  who  were  commissioned  and  delegated  as  am- 
bassadors for  Christ  has  a  divine  authority.  They  teach 
indeed  by  their  writings,  they  teach  by  their  sermons  and 
instructions;  but  they, teach  also  by  their  conduct  and  ex- 
ample. They  had  the  infallible  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  They  delivered  nothing  to  be  observed  in  the  wor-^ 
ship  of  God,  but  what  has  the  same  force  as  if  delivered  by 
Christ  himself — it  proceeds  indeed  from  Christ  himself.  In 
a  matter  of  subordinate  regulation,  when  the  substance  of 
a  command  has  been  known  from  the  creation  of  man,  their 
intimations  are  abundantly  sufficient;  just  as  their  devout 
and  detailed  instructions  are  indispensable  on  important 
and  fundamental  points  of  doctrine  or  practice.  "If  men 
will  presume,"  says  Baxter,  "that  apostles  filled  with  the 
Spirit,  appointed  the  Christian  Sabbath  without  the  Spirit, 
they  may  question  any  chapter  or  verse  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment." ^ 

We  have  their  testimony,  then,  for  nearly  sixty  years 
recorded  in  the  inspired,  pages;  and  this  incidentally,  and 
in  a  manner  which  supposes  the  change  from  the  Jewish  to 
the  Chriijtian  Sabbath  to  be  kn'own  and  received,  in  the 

\  ^i,       *  •  ^  Archbishop  BramhaU.  ♦'  ^ 

"•- '    '■■  ■  ■';  '  •         »  •* 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAY.  131 

churches.    Thus,  in  two  references  made  after  an  interval 
of  nearly  thirty  years  from  the  resurrection,  the  observance     , 
of  the  first  day  of  the  week  was  so  far  established  even  in 
the  remotest  places,  that  the  sacred  writers  speak  of  it  as 
a  matter  familiar  and  customary.     "We  came  to  Troas," 
saith  St.  Luke  in  the  Acts,  "where  we  abode  seven  days. 
And  upon  the  first  day  of  the  week,  when  the  disciples  came 
together  to  break  bread^  Paul  preached   unto  them,  ready 
to  depart  on  the  morrow."^     Here  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week  is  a  meeting,  not  of  a  few  friends,  but   of  the  whole 
body  of  the  disciples,  in  a  Christian  church  at  a  great  dis- 
tance from  Jerusalem.       It    is    spoken  of  as    a  practice 
already  established  and  well   known — it  is  an  accustomed 
meeting,  not  upon  an  extraordinary  summons.    Paul  preach- 
es to  them  being  thus   assembled  together. "    The  zealous 
apostle  doubtless  taught  privately  on    other  days:  but  it 
was  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  when  the   whole  church 
was  accustomed  to  meet,  according  to  their   duty,  for  the 
celebration  of  Christian  ordiaances,  that  he   preached  sol- 
emnly and  publicly  to  them.     It  even  seems  that  he  waited** 
the  arrival   of  the  day — for  he  was  ready  to   depart,  and 
did  depart  on  the  morrow  of  it — but  he  would  not  proceed 
on  his  journey  till  after  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  the 
instruction  and  ordinances^of  that  sacred  season,  had  taken 
place.     We  thus  learn  that  already  the  same,  or  nearly 
the  same,   mode   of  celebrating  the  Sabbath  was  observed 
as  in  modern  tfmes — public   assemblies — the  preaching  of 
God's  holy  word — the  administration  of  the   sacraments — 
with  public  prayer  and  praise,  and   acts  of  charity  to  the 
poor,  constituted  the  Christian  worship. 

At  the  same,  or  nearly  the  same,  period,  St.  Paul,  in  his 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthian  church,  incidentally  mentions  the 
observation  of  the  Lord's  day  as  a  matter  of  course,  not  to 
give  directions  about  the  day  itself,  but  in  order  to  enjoin' 
certain  additional  duties  which  were  to  form  an  important*, 
part  of  the  sanctification  of  it.  "Now  concerning  the  col- 
lection for  the  saints,  as  I  have  given  order  to  the  churches 
of  Galatia,  even  so  do  ye.  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week 
Jet  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in  store,  as  God  hath  pros- 

*  Acts  XX,  6,  7a 


132  SABBATH     TRANSFERRED     FROM    THE 

pered  him,  that  there  be  no  gatherings  when  I  come."* 
It  hence  appears  that  the  constant  day  of  the  church's  as- 
sembling was  fixed  and  well  known — it  was  the  first  day. 
The  apostle,  therefore,  merely  directs  the  discharge  of  an 
especial  duty  upon  it,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  ones  of 
prayer,  breaking  of  bread,  and  preaching  the  gospel.  He 
directs  them  to  charitable  contributions;  and  he  directs  this 
in  a  manner  which  implies  that  it  should  be  done  on  the 
first  day  of  the  week  and  no  other,  as  if  no  other  time 
would  do  so  well  as  that,  or  was  so  proper  a  season  for 
such  a  work.  He  notices  also,  that  he  had  given  the  same 
order  to  other  churches,  especially  to  the  churches  in  Gala- 
tia,  though  divided  by  the  sea,  and  lying  at  a  great  distance 
from  Corinth.  Thus  the  Lord's  day  was  generally  ac- 
knowledged. It  was  celebrated  by  Christians,  we  see,  be- 
fore the  New  Testament  was  written,  and  is  referred  to  in 
the  books  of  it  as  already  established.  Indeed  the  obedi- 
ence to  the  gospel,  and  to  its  ordinances,  began  first  upon 
the  authority  which  the  apostles  received  from  Christ,  and 
the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Thus  the 
churches  were  formed,  and  the  doctrine  and  sacraments  ad- 
mitted. And  thus  also  the  I^ord's  day  was  sanctified,  as 
appears  from  the  casual  references  made  in  the  history  and 
epistles  of  their  founders. 

But  we  go  on.  At  the  close  of  the  first  century,  an^ 
after  an  interval  of  thirty  or  forty  years  from  the  time 
when  the  above  passages  were  written,  the  words  of  our 
text  were  uttered  by  the  beloved  apostle — the  father  and 
sole  survivor  of  the  apostolic  college,  in  his  extreme  old 
age,  and  When  about  to  record  th6  revelations  made  to  him 
by  the  Spirit.  This  brings  down  the  direct  scriptural  evi- 
dence to  the  close  of  the  first  century. j  "I  was  in  the 
SPIRIT  ON  THE  lord's  DAY,"  is- the  brief  and  pregnant 
expression.  He  merely  denotes  in  this  way  the  time  when 
the  revelations  of  the  Spirit  were  made  to  him,  by  the 
mention  of  a  day,  the  appellation  of  which  was  well  known 
throughout  the  Christian  churches.  It  is  no  new  appella- 
tion, or  he  would  not  thus  incidentally  have  introduced  it. 
A  new  name  would  have  created  surprise,  not  communicat- 
ed information.    By  the  Lord's  day  was  undoubtedly  meant 

'^  •'    *  iuC^or.  *xvi.  1^2.  t  About  a.  d.  96. 


SEVENTH    TO    THE     FIRST     DAY.  133 

the  first  day  of  the  week,  for  we  find  no  footsteps  of  any 
distinction  of  days  which  could  entitle  any  other  to  that 
appellation.*  Now,  if  this  be  so;  if  sixty  or  seventy  years 
after  the  resurrection,  and  when  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
Jem  had  made  way  for  the  full  developement  of  the  gospel, 
the  first  day  of  the  week  is  called  the  lord's  day,  even 
as  St.  Paul  calls  the  Eucharist  the  lord's  supper — if 
the  one  be  the  memorial  of  the  Lord'^  resurrection,  as  the 
other  is  of  his  death  and  passion, — then  we  have  the  most 
satisfactory  evidence  of  the  apostolic  usage,  and  therefore 
of  the  divine  authority  of  the  change  of  the  Jewish  into 
the  Christian  Sabbath. 

4.  But  the  EVENTS  of  god's  wonderful  providence, 
which  swept  away  the  Jewish  polity  and  Sabbath,  com- 
pleted the  change  which  had  thus  gradually  been  introduced, 
and  had  spread  so  widely.  To  avoid  needlessly  exasperat- 
ing the  prejudices  of  the  Jewish  converts,  and  the  malice 
of  the  great  body  of  that  nation,  the  transfer  of  the  day 
of  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  a  long  time  silently  and  grad- 
ually. Our  Lord  lays  the  foundation  of  the  change  in  his 
example,  and  in  the  choice  of  the  day  for  conferring  the 
great  gift  of  the  New  Testament.  The  apostles  follow 
his  example;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  practice  had  be- 
come general  within  thirty  years  from  the  crucifixion.  But 
.we  have  no  express  prohibition  of  the  Jewish,  nor  injunc- 
tion of  the  Christian  Sabbath.  It  was  a  matter  subordi- 
nate, and  was  now  to  make  its  way  by  tlie  force  of  circum- 
stances and  the  tacit  influence  of  i\ie  apostle's  doctrine. 
On  the  question  of  the  Jewish  ceremonies  indeed  contro- 
versy arose — circumcision  and  ker  v>ing'  the  Law  of  Moses 
were  made  the  occasion  of  supplaiiting  the  great  doctrine 
of  justification.  But  where  no  dij^pute  arose — where  all 
observed  one  day  in  seven  for  religious  rest — where  no 
yoke  was  attempted  to  be  imposed  on  the  Gentiles,  the 
apostles  were  "gentle  as  a  nurse  cherisheth  her  own  chil- 
dren." The  Jewish  converts  were  allowed  to  observe  the 
Mosaic  Sabbath.  The  Gentiles,  who  had  previously  cele- 
brated their  pagan  festivals,  renounced  these  on  their  con- 
version, for  the  holy  rest  of  the  Lord's  day.  They  spon- 
taneously kept  the  Christian  Sabbath  as  a  natural  duty,  a 

*  Paley. 
12 


134  SABBATH     TRANSFERRED     FROM    THE 

branch  of  the  moral  law,  an  effect  of  that  most  general 
commandment,  "thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart" — and  an  injunction  expressly  given  in  the  fourth 
commandment.  The  Jewish  converts  still  observed  their 
own  Sabbath;  but  then  they  yielded  without  objection  to 
the  apostolic  example  and  authority,  in  joining  the  Gentile 
converts  in  celebrating  the  day  of  their  Lord's  resurrection. 

They  were  circumcised;  but  they  were  also  willingly 
baptized.  They  celebrated  the  passover;  but  they  willingly 
added  the  Lord's  Supper.  They  worshipped  in  the  temples 
and  the  synagogues;  but  they  assembled  also  in  the  Chris- 
tian churches.  So  long  as  the  Jewish  services  were  neither 
attacked  nor  neglected,  they  made  no  objection  to  that  of 
the  Christian  church.  Thus  the  new  ordinances  grew  into 
use,  veneration,  habit.  When  the  apostles  declared  in  the 
Epistles  to  the  Galatians  and  Hebrews,  that  the  Jewish 
covenant  was  ready  to  vanish  away,  and  that  no  reliance 
whatever  upon  its  ceremonies  was  to  interfere  with  a  sim- 
ple faith  in  Christ  for  justification,  the  minds  of  the  Jewish 
believers  were  prepared  to  submit.  Thus  things  continued 
for  nearly  forty  years  after  the  resurrection. 

The  destruction  of  Jerusalem  takes  place.  The  Jewish 
polity  is  dissolved.  The  temple  is  left  without  one  stone 
upon  another.  The  Jewish  priesthood,  altars,  sacrifices, 
covenant.  Sabbath,  all  disappear.  The  Lord's  day  be- 
comes the  day  of  religious  rest.  No  controversy  arises. 
The  seventh-day  Sabbath  dies  without  a  struggle,  by  the 
force  of  circumstances  directed  by  an  unfailing  providence. 
What  wisdom  and  consideration,  then,  appears  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  apostles!  As  the  whole  church  of  Jewish  and 
Christian  converts  agreed  in  one  grand  moral  duty,  the 
consecration  of  a  day  of  rest  to  God,  and  as  the  stream  of 
events  was  about  to  carry  away  the  whole  Jewish  economy, 
the  apostles  left  matters  to  work.  They  laid  down  the 
general  truth  of  the  non-obligation  of  the  Mosaical  law — 
they  consecrated  by  their  example,  the  change  of  the  day 
of  the  Sabbath;  but  they  awakened  no  unnecessary  preju- 
dices. They  cheerfully  met  the  Jewish  assemblies  on  the 
seventh  day,  for  the7purpose  of  preaching  the  gospel  to 
them.  They  issued  no  public  decree.  A  non-essential 
matter,  they  were  assured,  would  find  its  level.  How 
great  would  have  been  the  consternation  of  the  Jewish  be- 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAY.  135 

lievers,  if  their  Sabbath,  their  golden  day,  the  first  of  their 
commandments,  the  badge  of  their  nation,  the  glory  of  their 
state  as  a  church,  had  been  openly  impugned!  Nor  could 
the  apostles  have  abolished  it,  so  far  as  it  was  a  political 
ordinance,  and  interwoven  with  the  civil  policy  of  the  Jew- 
ish people.  They  waited  therefore.  They  left  the  Jewish 
Sabbath  gradually  to  expire,  and  the  Christian  to  succeed, 
without  any  express  command,  or  any  attempt  at  a  violent 
and  sudden  transfer. 

After  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  case  became  dif- 
ferent. The  time  of  concession  was  over.  Moses  had 
vanished  away.  The  Jewish  church  was  no  longer  the 
church  of  God.  The  dispersed  Jews  were  under  the  judi- 
cial blindness  which  the  rejection  of  their  Messiah  had 
brought  upon  them.  Their  hatred  of  Christianity  was  in- 
furiate. Christians  then  must  now  openly  separate  from 
the  communion  of  a  repudiated  church.  The  Jewish  Sab- 
bath, the  most  visible  character  of  their  worship,  must  now 
openly  give  place  to  the  Lord's  day.  The  consecration  of 
that  day  is  now  a  necessary  protest  against  Judaism,  even 
as  the  Jewish  Sabbath  had  been  against  idolatry.  Chris- 
tians unite  the  two.  Their  Lord's  day  is  an  open  protest 
against  atheism  and  idolatry  on  the  one  hand,  and  Judaism 
and  superstition  on  the  other.  By  it  they  publicly  profess 
their  belief  in  the  three  grand  articles  of  the  creed — "In 
God  the  Father  Almighty,  the  maker  of  heaven  and  earth," 
who  first  instituted  at  the  creation  a  weekly  rest  after  six 
days'  labor — "And  in  Jesus  Christ  his  only  Son  our  Lord," 
-Who  rose  on  this  day,  and  drew  to  it  the  season  of  sacred 
joy — and  in  "the  Holy  Ghost,"  who  descended  on  the 
same  day  to  found  the  church  and  to  qualify  the  apostles, 
and  who  is  its  abiding  comforter  and  guide. 

And  thus  the  Lord's  day  is  gradually  but  firmly  and 
completely  established,  by  exactly  that  kind  of  evidence 
which  the  nature  of  the  case  demanded,  and  the  wisdom 
of  God  saw  to  be  best.  Its  authority  is  divine,  because 
the  example  of  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  and  of  his  apostles, 
inspired  to  found  his  church,  is  a  divine  authority  for  any 
change;  especially  for  one  immaterial  in  itself,  and  entirely 
consistent  with  the  fundamental  law  of  the  institution. 

5.  But  it  may  naturally  be  asked,  what  say  ecclesi- 
astical HISTORIANS — what  the  apostolic  Fathers.^ — Do 


136  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED    FROM    THE 

they  bear  witness  to  the  observation  of  the  first  day  of  the 
week?  Do  they  ascribe  to  the  command  of  Christ  and  the 
inspired  founders  of  their  churches,  the  transfer  of  the  day 
of  rest  from  the  last  to  the  first  of  the  week  ?  To  this  we 
reply,  that  there  is  no  one  fact  upon  which  all  testimony 
more  completely  agrees  than  this.  "I  should  hold  it  too 
long,"  says  Bishop  Andrews,  to  "cite  them  in  particular; 
1  avow  it  on  my  credit,  that  there  is  not  an  ecclesiastical 
writer  in  whom  it  is  not  to  be  found."* 

Ignatius,  a  companion  of  the  apostle,  says,  "Let  us  no 
more  sabbatize,  but  let  us  keep  the  Lord's  day,  on  which 
our  life  arose." 

Justin  Martyr,  at  the  close  of  the  first,  and  the  beg^in-^ 
ning  of  the  second  century  tells  us,  "On  the  day  called 
Sunday  is  an  assembly  of  all  who  live  in  the  city  or  coun- 
try, and  the  memoirs  of  the  apostles  and  the  writings  of  the 
prophets  are  read."  And  he  adds,  that  "it  was  the  day 
on  which  the  creation  of  the  world  began,  and  on  which 
Christ  arose  from  the  dead." 

Irena3uSj  a  disciple  of  Polycarp,  who  had  been  the  disci- 
ple of  St.  John  himself,  says,  "On  the  Lord's  day  every 
one  of  us  Christians  keeps  the  Sabbath,  meditating  on  the 
law,  and  rejoicing  in  the  works  of  God." 

jTertullian,  at  the  close  of  the  second  century,  asserts  it 
to  be  "the  holy  day  of  the  Christian  church  assemblieSj 
and  holy  worship" — that  "every  eighth  day  is  the  Chris- 
tian's festival" — "kept  as  a  day  of  rejoicing." 

Dionysius,  Bishop  of  Corinth,  in  the  time  of  Irenreus, 
says,  in  his  second  letter  to  the  church  of  Rome,  "To-day 
we  celebrate  the  Lord's  day,  when  we  read  your  epistle 
to  us." 

St.  Ambrose  observes,  "the  Lord's  day  was  sacred  or 
consecrated  by  the  resurrection  of  Christ." 

The  council  of  Laodicea,  about  the  year  363,  forbad 
(Christians  to  rest  from  labor  on  the  seventh  day,  "for 
Christians  ought  not  to  rest  on  the  Sabbath,  that  is,  the 
seventh  day,  but  preferring  the  Lord's  day  to  rest  as 
Christians,  if  indeed  it  is  in  their  power." 

St.  Augustine  tells  us,  that  "the  Lord's  day  was  by  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  declared  to  Christians,  and  from  that 

*  Bishop  Andrews  on  the  ten  commandments — a  work  of  iiicoropara-. 
ble  value— from  which,  and  Baxter  and  Dwighl,  I  collect  my  testimonies;. 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST   DAY  137 

very  time  it  began  to  be  celebrated  as  the  Christian's  fes- 
tival.'' 

Epiphanius,  in  his  sermon  upon  the  day  of  Christ's  res- 
urrection, has  this  expression,  "This  is  the  day  which  God 
blessed  and  sanctified,  because  in  it  he  ceased  from  all  his 
labors  which  he  had  perfectly  accomplished,  the  salvation 
both  of  those  on  earth  and  those  under  the  earth." 

Athanasius  says,  "The  Lord  transferred  the  Sabbath  to 
the  Lord's  day,"  The  Emperor  Constantino,  as  soon  as 
he  embraced  the  Christian  faith,  made  a  law  to  exempt  the 
Lord's  day  from  being  Juridical. 

And  finally,  Leo,  (A.  D.  469)  thus  expresses  the  senti- 
ments of  the  whole  Christian  church:  We  ordain  according 
to  the  true  meaning  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  the  apostles 
thereby  directed,  that  on  the  sacred  day  wherein  our  own  in- 
tegrity was  restored,  all  do  rest  and  cease  from  labor;  that 
neither  husbandmen  nor  other  on  that  day,  put  their  hand 
to  forbidden  work.  For  if  the  Jews  did  so  much  reverence 
their  Sabbaths,  which  were  but  a  shadow  of  ours,  are  not 
we  which  inhabit  the  light  and  truth  of  grace,  bound  to 
honor  that  day  which  the  Lord  himself  hath  honored,  and 
hath  therein  delivered  us  from  dishonor  and  from  death .^ 
Are  we  not  bound  to  keep  it  singular  and  inviolable,  well 
contenting  ourselves  with  so  liberal  a  grant  of  the  rest,  and 
pot  encroaching  upon  that  one  da^  which  God  hath  chosen 
to  his  own  honor?  Were  it  not  re'ckless  neglect  of  religion 
to  make  that  very  day  common,  and  to  think  we  may  do 
with  it  as  with  the  rest?* 

Thus  decisive  is  the  testimony  to  the  fact,  that  the 
Lord's  day  was  considered  by  the  primitive  church  to  be 
appointed  by  the  divine  authority  of  the  apostles,  the  espe- 
cial delegates  and  ambassadors  of  Christ,  armed  with  his 
commission,  and  inspired  with  his  spirit. 

It  deserves  remark,  that  the  brief  description  which 
Pliny,  in  his  celebrated  letter  to  Trajan,  gives  of  the  Chris- 
tian ^worship,  entirely  accords  with  our  general  testimony  : 
"They  are  accustomed  to  meet  on  a  stated  day  before  light, 
and  to  sing  amongst  themselves  hymns  to  Christ,  as  to  a 
God."  Indeed,  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  day  was  so 
notorious  even  to  the  Heathens  themselves,  that  it  was 
ever  a  question  of  theirs  to  the  martyrs,  "Dorainicum  ser- 

*  Hooker. 

*12 


13S  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED    FROM    THE 

vasti?"  "Do  you  keep  Sunday?"  And  their  answer  was 
equally  well  known;  they  all  aver  it:  "I  am  a  Christian; 
I  cannot  omit  it." 

6.  And  why  should  I  detain  you  longer?  Why  should 
I  do  more  than  notice  that  perpetual  blessing  which 

HAS  ATTENDED  THE  CHRISTIAN  SABBATH,  and  which  at- 
tends it  now?  Why  should  I  call  to  your  memory  all  the 
conversions  which  have  crowned  the  Lord's  day  during 
eighteen  centuries,  in  every  part  of  the  world?  The  whole 
church  has  been  built  up  upon  this  divinely  transferred  sea- 
son— the  whole  church  has  been  enlarged,  comforted,  sanc- 
tified on  it.  If  the  primitive  Christians  were  mistaken  io 
supposing  the  change  from  the  seventh  to  the  first  day  of  the 
week  to  have  been  of  apostolic  authority,  then  God  has 
permitted  this  mistake  to  be  confirmed,  and  to  take  root, 
by  his  especial  blessing,  and  the  continued  operations  of 
his  grace,  during  the  whole  period  of  the  Christian  church. 
But  the  idea  is  too  absurd.  For  when  we  consider  the 
comparative  non-importance  in  itself,  of  the  particular  day 
in  the  week  on  which  we  keep  the  Sabbath,  supposing  the 
portion  of  time  which  the  eternal  rule  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment requires,  is  preserved;  and  when  we  reflect  on 
all  the  preparatory  circumstances  which  laid  a  probable 
ground  for  the  change;  and  when  to  these  we  add  the  grad- 
ual but  decisive  manner  in  which  that  change  was  intro- 
duced, sustained  by  the  events  of  God's  awful  providence 
in  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  polity  and  Sabbath,  and 
testified  by  the  united  voice  of  all  ecclesiastical  antiquity; 
we  have  a  mass  of  evidence  to  the  divine  authority  of  our 
Christian  Sabbath,  sufficient  to  satisfy  every  candid  mind. 
The  blessing  of  God,  therefore,  which  has  actually  at- 
tended, and  is  actually  attending,  in  such  large  and 
perpetual  operations  of  grace,  the  Lord's  day,  is  in  full 
accordance  with  every  other  species  of  proof,  and  crowns 
the  whole  argument. 

The  change,  indeed,  after  all,  amounts  only  to  this.  Un- 
der the  patriarchal  and  Jewish  dispensations,  the  Sabbath 
was  considered  as  following  the  other  days.  Under  the 
Christian  it  precedes.  Under  the  former  economies,  cre- 
ation and  the  redemption  from  Egypt  were  the  greatest  ben- 
efits conferred  upon  man.  Under  the  Christian,  the  spir- 
itual   redemption — the   resurrection   of  Christ — the   new 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAY.  139 

•creation  of  the  world.  The  Sabbath,  therefore,  waited  a 
day  for  the  triumph  of  its  divine  Lord,  and  then  took  the 
precedence,  and  led  on  the  other  days.  In  all  these  dis- 
pensations, the  proportion  of  time  dedicated  to  the  imme- 
diate service  of  God,  in  which  the  substance  of  the  com- 
mand lay,  remained  the  same,  as  well  as  the  anticipation 
and  pledge  of  that  rest  in  heaven  in  which  our  Sabbaths 
are  to  terminate. 

And  thus  all  the  obligations  that  can  combine  to  enforce 
a  moral  command  on  man,  have  been  found  to  unite  in  the 
case  of  the  Christian  Sabbath.  The  argument  has  gone 
on  accumulating  through  each  part  of  our  progress.  The 
objections  have  not  only  been  overcome,  but  turned  into 
additional  confirmations.  We  have  seen  that  from  the  cre- 
ation to  the  rest  of  eternity,  a  day  of  weekly  repose  and 
religious  worship  has  been  appointed  for  man.  We  have 
seen  the  six  days'  work  laid  out,  and  the  seventh  day's 
refreshment  enforced  by  the  Almighty;  first  in  his  own  ex- 
ample, and  then  by  his  command.  We  have  discovered 
the  traces  of  this  most  ancient  of  institutions  during  the 
patriarchal  ages.  After  the  redemption  from  Egypt  we 
perceived  its  re-enactment  before  the  law  of  ceremonies: 
and  its  insertion  in  the  moral  law,  in  common  with  the 
other  primary  duties  of  a  responsible  creature.  It  enters 
ihe  Mosaical  economy,  not  as  belonging  to  it,  but  as  spring- 
ing, with  many  other  ordinances,  from  the  patriarchal 
church.  As  it  preceded  the  existence  of  the  ceremonial 
dispensation,  so  it  survived  its  extinction.  Even  during  its 
passage  through  the  parenthetical  and  temporary  economy, 
we  saw  how  it  lifted  up  itself  on  high,  above  all  mere  figures 
and  ceremonies.  The  Savior  appears  and  reverences,  hon- 
ors, distinguishes  the  Sabbath  by  his  doctrine  and  his  mir- 
acles. The  ten  commandments  he  recognizes  without  omis- 
sion or  alteration.  As  the  Jews  had  fallen  into  various 
superstitions  contrary  to  the  true  import  of  the  law  of  the 
Sabbath,  he  sweeps  away  these  austerities,  and  leaves  it 
in  its  genuine  simplicity  and  grace — as  being  "made  for 
man,  and  not  man  for  it."  He  intimates,  also,  a  change 
to  be  made  in  its  observance,  and  claims  to  be  its  ruler, 
sovereign,  and  Lord.  The  particular  day  not  being  of  the 
essence  of  the  law,  it  is  silently  introduced.  The  very  na- 
ture of  the  gospel  as  an  universal  religion  might  seem  to 


140  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED    FROM    THE 

lead  to  it.  The  Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  he  that  was  great- 
er than  the  temple,  he  that  wrought  in  the  works  of  the 
new  creation  as  Almighty  God  had  in  those  of  the  old, 
laid  the  grounds  for  the  change  before  his  passion.  After 
his  resurrection  he  established  the  first  day's  rest  by  his 
gracious  appearance  on  that  day,  and  his  mission  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  apostles  follow  their  Master's  exam- 
ple— they  declare  in  their  epistles  the  Mosaical  law  abol- 
ished. They  tolerate  indeed,  till  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, those  who  from  prejudices  and  misapprehensions 
kept  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  and  they  attend  the  synagogues 
in  order  to  meet  the  Jews  and  proclaim  the  gospel,  but 
they  themselves  honor  the  Christian  Sabbath;  and,  after 
the  abolition  of  the  Mosaical  polity  and  state,  they  leave 
it  as  the  badge  of  our  faith  in  Christ,  as  our  protest 
against  Judaism,  as  our  season  of  Paradisaical  and  Patri- 
archal repose  transferred  to  the  day  of  the  gospel;  as  our 
pledge  and  anticipation  of  the  rest  and  salvation  of  heaven 
— and  they  charge  the  universal  church  to  celebrate  on  that 
day,  not  only  the  glories  of  creation,  the  blessings  of  re- 
demption, and  the  hopes  of  a  heavenly  felicity,  but  the  tri- 
umph of  the  Redeemer,  in  which  they  centre,  and  by  which 
they  are  secured. 

Let  us  then,  in  conclusion — I.  Adore  in  solemn  acts  of 
thanksgiving  and  praise,  the  wisdom  and  goodness 
OF  THAT  God,  who,  seeing  the  end  from  the  beginning, 
thus  laid  out  the  bountiful  provision  for  man's  religious  re- 
pose in  his  first  creation,  carried  it  through  all  the  dis- 
pensations of  his  mercy,  and  revived  it  with  so  many  ad- 
vantages in  the  Christian  church!  Yes;  we  magnify  thy 
counsels  of  grace.  Thou  only  wise  God;  we  see  something 
of  that  manifold  and  varied  wisdom  and  prudence,  with 
which  thou  hast  abounded  towards  us.  We  glorify  thy 
name  not  only  for  the  revelation  of  thy  grace  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  for  all  the  dispensations  of  it  since  the  world 
began,  but  for  that  attendant  ordinance  which  gives  us  time 
to  meditate  upon  them,  and  to  repose  in  Thee  our  great 
and  final  end.  We  discern  the  footsteps  of  an  infinite 
wisdom,  in  the  magnitude  and  boldness  of  that  record  of 
the  institution  of  a  Sabbath,  which  the  six  days'  work 
exhibited;  and  which  is  large  and  clear  enough  to  catch 
every  eye,  to  penetrate  every  conscience,  to  decide  every 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAY.  141 

honest  doubt.  We  adore  Thee  yet  more,  for  that  regard 
to  human  infirmity,  which  led  thee  to  insert  this  command 
in  the  moral  law,  and  thus  bind  it  upon  the  hearts  of  the 
whole  human  race,  in  common  with  their  other  most  indis- 
pensable duties.  And  in  thy  gospel,  thy  wisdom  still  strikes 
our  view  with  brighter  splendor,  in  the  gracious  explications 
of  thy  law,  uttered  by  the  lips  of  our  Redeemer,  and  in 
the  gradual  and  silent  introduction  of  the  change  of  the 
day  of  its  observance  made  by  thy  apostles.  O,  teach  us 
to  adore  thee,  in  this  thy  appointment!  Let  us  believe, 
that  every  degree  of  evidence  of  the  divine  origin  and  per- 
manent obligation  of  thy  day,  which  is  good  for  us  in  this 
imperfect  state  of  trial,  has  been  granted;  that  more  evi- 
dence would  probably  have  been  unnecessary  and  injurious; 
and  do  thou  cause  us  to  acquiesce  in  thy  mode  of  revealing 
this  day  of  rest,  in  thy  manner  of  transferring  it  to  the  day 
of  the  glorious  resurrection  of  our  Lord,  and  in  the  motives 
which  thou  hast  accumulated,  to  urge  us  to  sanctify  it 
aright! 

II.  But  let  us  notice  as  a  further  thought  by  way  of 
application,  that  the  changes  in  the  circumstances  of  the 
law  of  the  Sabbath  have  sprung  up  from  new  bene- 
fits CONFERRED  ON  MAN,  and  should  increase  his  sense 
of  obligation  and  gratitude.  Every  change  is  a  fresh  bless- 
ing. Every  new  dispensation  is  a  new  grace.  Every  al- 
teration is  an  advance  in  the  developement  of  redemption 
on  the  one  hand,  and  in  the  uses  and  importance  of  the  in- 
stitution on  the  other.  The  various  modes  in  which  the 
Sabbath  has  been  presented  to  man,  have  not  been  isolat- 
ed, much  less  arbitrary  enactments,  but  economies  of  mercy, 
divisions  in  the  grand  progress  of  man's  salvation  by  Jesus 
Christ,  new  pledges  of  "the  rest  remaining  for  the  people  of 
God."  Every  re-enactment,  then,  has  brought  with  it  new 
bonds,  new  obligations,  new  attractions,  towards  the  spir- 
itual observation  of  the  sacred  season.  Creation  poured 
its  first  benefits  upon  man,  the  offspring  of  his  God,  and 
bound  upon  him  the  day  of  rest,  by  all  the  ties  of  grati- 
tude to  an  all-bountiful  Lord.  The  separation  of  a  partic- 
ular family,  to  be  the  repository  of  truth,  and  the  confes- 
sors of  the  one  living  God,  amidst  surrounding  idolatry, 
brought  with  it  new  calls  to  duty,  new  reasons  of  religious 
*rorship  and  praise.   The  covenant  of  Abraham,  the  promise 


142  SABBATH    TRANSFERRED    FROM    THE 

of  "the  seed  in  whom  all  the  families  of  the  earth  should 
be  blessed,"  the  imputation  of  faith  to  him  for  righteous- 
ness, augmented  the  obligations  of  sacrifice,  of  circumci- 
sion, and  especially  of  the  Sabbath.  The  establishment  of 
the  Mosaic  dispensation  on  the  footing  of  the  redemption 
of  Egypt,  and  with  the  promise  of  the  rest  in  Canaan,  plac- 
ed the  Sabbath  in  yet  a  new  and  more  inviting  light,  shed 
upon  it  richer  grace,  made  it  the  commemoration  of  mightier 
blessings.  The  promulgation  of  the  moral  law,  as  con- 
nected with  the  dispensation  of  Moses,  and  subservient  to 
the  promises  of  grace  typified  in  that  dispensation,  was  an 
inconceivable  favor  to  a  wandering,  and  yet  responsible 
creature,  uncertain  of  his  duties,  surrounded  with  tempta- 
tion, lost  amidst  the  corruption  and  darkness  of  the  world. 
Every  hymn  of  the  royal  Psalmist,  every  prediction  of  the 
inspired  prophets,  augmented  the  materials  of  sabbath- 
praise  and  meditation,  and  increased  the  duty  of  making 
such  a  return  of  gratitude  to  God.  At  last,  Messiah  ap- 
pears. Blessed  Immanuel,  we  hail  thy  birth!  Thou  art 
the  King,  and  Priest,  and  Prophet  of  an  universal  dispensa- 
tion. Thy  infinite  benefits  bind  us  to  thyself.  "Whether 
we  eat,  or  drink,  or  whatever  we  do,  we  are  to  do  every 
thing  to  thy  glory."  All  thy  mercies  flow  together  into 
this  thy  day,  which  thou  hast  transferred  to  be  the  trophy 
of  thy  resurrection.  This  is  the  field  where  all  thy  bless- 
ings flourish;  this  the  scene  where  all  thy  operations  of 
grace  are  carried  on;  this  the  season  when  all  thy  praises 
are  set  forth. 

Yes,  my  brethren,  it  is  to  this  Savior's  love  that  we  owe 
our  Christian  Sabbath;  it  is  by  this  Savior's  death  and 
passion,  that  its  duties  are  bound  upon  us;  it  is  by  this 
Savior's  Spirit,  that  its  consolations  are  poured  into  our 
hearts. 

And  mark,  I   entreat  you,  that  in  proportion  as  the 

BENEFITS,  AND  LIBERTY,  AND  SPIRITUAL  CHARACTER 
OF    THE    GOSPEL    ARE  MORE  EXALTED,  SO  should  OUr  hearts 

catch  the  intimations  of  our  Lord's  will  with  more  alacrity, 
and  fulfil  them  with  warmer  delight.  He  re-enacts  not  in 
direct  terms  his  day  of  rest,  because  all  the  previous  publi- 
cations of  it  will  act  with  a  thousandfold  more  force  upon 
the  mind  of  his  true  people.  He  leaves  it  to  be  inferred 
from  his  own  example  and  doctrine,  and  that  of  his  apos- 


SEVENTH    TO    THE    FIRST    DAY.  143 

ties;  because  under  his  gospel  the  love  of  his  person,  name, 
worship,  will  be  a  spontaneous  and  overflowing  principle,  dic- 
tated by  his  Spirit  bursting  forth  from  every  heart  which  is 
touched  with  the  benefits  of  redemption,  and  constituting 
the  very  badge  and  characteristic  of  his  kingdom. 

Here  then,  we  close  the  first  division  of  our  series  of  dis- 
courses— the  Divine  Authority  and  Obligation  of  a  weekly 
day  of  rest  in  God,  is  under  all  dispensations  the  same; 
but  under  the  gospel  shines  forth  with  the  concentrated  light 
of  each  preceding  period;  and  is  clothed  with  all  the  ad- 
ditional majesty  which  infinite  grace  and  love  throw  around 
it.  Every  thing  illustrates  the  duty,  and  exalts  the  priv- 
ilege of  that  institution,  which  before  the  fall  was  needful 
to  man;  but  which,  in  his  corrupted  and  sinful  state,  is  the 
grand  means  of  preserving  religion  in  the  world;  the  noblest 
rite  of  the  Christian  faith;  the  substratum  and  ground-work 
on  which  are  erected  all  the  means  of  grace,  and  all  the 
hopes  of  glory. 

And  let  it  be  remembered,  that  the  objections  raised 
against  the  several  branches  of  our  great  argument,  having 
been  satisfactorily  answered,  they  should  no  longer  be  al- 
lowed to  harass  our  minds,  or  weaken  our  faith,  or  contract 
our  obedience.  The  full  authority  of  the  divine 
INSTITUTION  should  be  admitted;  and  our  efforts  turned 
to  those  practical  questions,  which  will  be  the  subject  of 
the  remaining  division  of  our  discourses. 


SERMOK^   V. 


THE  PRACTICAL  DUTIES  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  SABBATH, 


EZEKIEL    Xt.     12. 

Moreover  also^  I  gave  them  my  Sabbaths,  to  be  a  sign  bc" 
tween  me  and  them,  that  they  might  know  that  J  jam 
the  Lord  that  sanctify  them. 

The  divine  authority  and  perpetual  obligation  of  a  day  ef 
holy  rest  and  religious  worship,  have  been  abundantly 
proved.  Every  thing  conspires  to  impress  us  with  its  su- 
preme importance  to  man  in  all  ages,  and  under  all  dispen- 
sations. Such  is  its  antiquity,  that  it  was  instituted  in 
Paradise.  Such  its  essential  moral  nature,  that  it  was  in- 
serted in  the  Ten  Commandments.  Its  dignity  is  so  great, 
that  it  lifts  its  head  high  above  the  ceremonies  of  Moses, 
whilst  under  that  economy.  Such  is  its  spirituality,  that 
the  holy  prophets  and  reformers  insist  upon  it,  as  a  point  of 
fundamental  duty,  and  as  about  to  form  a  part  of  the  gos- 
pel kingdom.  Its  perpetual  force  and  native  majesty,  are 
so  distinguished,  that  our  Lord,  after  explaining  what  the 
comments  of  the  Jewish  doctors  had  obscured,  leaves  it  in 
more  than  its  original  glory;  transfers  the  day  of  its  cele- 
bration to  that  of  his  resurrection,  and  erects  it  into  a 
trophy  of  his  victory.  Such,  in  a  word,  is  its  paramount 
authority  upon  the  human  conscience,  that  the  Christian 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  145 

church  in  every  age,  including  the  Apostolical,  has  confess- 
ed its  claims,  and  made  it  the  occasion  of  their  delight  and 
joy. 

It  is  in  truth,  "a  sign  of  the  covenant"  between  God  and 
man;  a  badge  of  our  Christian  profession;  the  acknowledg- 
ment we  publicly  make  of  the  God  who  created,  and  the 
Savior  who  redeemed  us;  a  chief  means  of  that  dedication 
and  sanctification  of  man  to  his  Almighty  Lord,  which 
creation  and  redemption  are  designed  to  produce. 

And  this  leads  us  to  the   second,  and  practical   division 
of  our  whole  subject.     How  is  this  holy  day  to  be  observed 
under  the  Gospel  ? — What  is  the   importance  of  observing 
it,  and  the  evils   of  the  opposite   neglect?*     What  is  the 
necessity  of  personal  and  national  repentance  for  our  viola- 
tion of  it?! — Grave  questions  these,   and  demanding   all 
our  attention.     For  why  the  accumulated  proofs  of  the  in- 
stitution, stretching  from  the  creation  of  man  to  the  rest  of 
heaven,  but  to   enforce  its  practical  duties?     And   what  is 
the  true  source  of  almost  all  the  objections  to   its   divine 
authority,  but  the  dislike  which  fallen  man  has  to  its  spir- 
itual worship,  and  holy  demands?     Let  the  rest  be   ad- 
mitted to  be  external  and  civil   merely — let  the  public  du- 
ties of  the  worship  of  God  be  confined  to  a  brief  and  cur- 
sory service — let  the  private  hours  of  the  Sabbath  be  spent 
in  worldly,  or  intellectual,  or  festive  indulgences — and  all 
-objections  to  its  authority  would   cease.     But  if  we   main- 
tain, that  the  great  end  of  the  appointment  is  to  be  a  sign 
of  God's  covenant,'  and   a  means  of  sanctification — if  we 
maintain  the  duties  of  it  to  extend  to  all  classes  of  persons, 
and  during  the  whole  of  the   sacred   day — if  we   maintain 
that  the  spirit  in  which  these  are   to  be   performed  is  the 
filial   temper  of  joy  and   delig-ht  in   God — if  we  maintain 
that  the  mighty  blessings,  which  are  to  be  especially  com- 
memorated are  no  other  than  creation,  redemption,  heaven 
— if,  in  a  word,  we   show   that  the    Sabbath,   practically 
considered,  is  Christianity  embodied — revelation  set  forth 
visibly  in  its   simple   and   majestic  features — the   sign  and 
representation  of  the   covenant   of  grace, — the   means   of 
sanctification  exhibited  and  set  before  our  eyes, — then  the 
eorrupt  reason  and  perverted  affections  of  man  unite  to  in- 

*  Sermon  VI.  .  t  Sermon  VII. 

13 


146  PRACTICAL     DUTIES 

vent  objections  to  its  authority,  that  they  may  escape  its 
unwelcome  bonds. 

These,  then,  are  the  very  points  which  in  the  present 
discourse  we  shall  endeavor  to  illustrate:  the  great  end 
of  the  institution — its  public  and  private  duties — the 
SPIRIT  Ax\d  temper  which  it  cherishes — the  especial 
blessings  which  it  commemorates. 

And  here  let  two  remarks  be  premised.  We  enforce 
not  the  duties  of  the  Jewish,  but  of  the  Christian  Sabbath. 
The  ceremonial  and  civil  appendages  of  the  Mosaic  law, 
the  spirit  of  bondage,  the  terrors  of  Mount  Sinai,  are 
passed.  It  is  the  gospel  in  all  its  grace  and  loveliness 
which  we  maintain — that  mild  and  merciful  institution, 
cleared  from  the  traditionary  yoke  of  the  Jewish  masters, 
which  our  Lord  confirmed  as  the  boon  and  gift  originally 
granted  to  man.  Every  thing  in  the  Christian  Sabbath  ia 
tender,  and  considerate  on  the  one  hand,  every  thing  is 
spiritual  and  elevated  on  the  other;  and  is,  in  both  views 
adapted  and  suited  to  the  real  state  and  exigencies  of  our 
nature,  under  the  last  and  most  perfect  dispensation  of  re- 
ligion. 

But  then  the  determination  of  what  is  really  spiritual,  of 
what  is  really  for  the  welfare  of  man,  of  what  are  the  real 
duties  and  employments  of  the  day,  must  be  taken  from  the 
Scriptures  themselves,  and  not  from  the  opinions,  much  less 
from  the  inclinations  and  fashions,  of  a  corrupt  world.  We 
must  rise  to  the  standard  of  the  Sabbath  as  set  forth  in  the 
Bible,  not  sink  the  Bible  to  the  level  of  our  wayward  pas- 
sions. This  is  the  second  remark.  The  doctrine  of  the 
institution,  like  the  counsel  of  a  skilful  physician,  is  designed 
to  produce  a  cure  of  our  moral  maladies  by  wholesome  medi- 
cines, not  to  foment  the  disease  by  cordials,  or  hide  its 
worst  symptoms  by  opiates  and  palliatives. 

And  do  Thou,  Almighty  God  and  Father,  who  madest 
the  Sabbath  for  man,  assist  us  to  rise  up  to  its  true  de- 
mands! May  thy  Spirit  teach  us  -what  thy  revelation 
really  imports,  and  what  the  day  which  Thou  callest  thine 
own,  is  designed  to  become!  That,  knowing  our  own  mis- 
ery, and  receiving  with  humble  faith  the  redemption  of  thy 
Son,  we  may  delight  in  the  services  of  that  season  which 
is  one  chief  means  of  communicating  the  blessings  procured 
by  it  to  our  souls ! 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  147 

In  considering,  then,  the  practical  duties  of  the  Lord's 
day,  we  must, 

I.  Keep  ever  in  view  the  great  end  of  the  insti- 
tution— which  is  to  be  a  visible  sign  of  the  covenant  be- 
tween God  and  us,  and  a  principal  means  of  that  sanctifi- 
cation  which  it  is  one  object  of  that  covenant  to  produce. 

For  it  is  not  merely  in  the  words  of  the  text  that  this 
express  end  is  assigned  to  it;  almost  a  thousand  years  be- 
fore, the  Lord  had  declared  by  Moses,  ^'Verily  my  Sab- 
baths ye  shall  keep;  for  it  is  a  sign  between  me  and  you 
throughout  your  generations,  that  ye  may  know  that  I 
am  the  Lord  that  doth  sanctify  you."*  Thus  we  learn 
that  this  is  an  essential  design  of  the  institution.  It  re- 
ceived, indeed,  especial  sanctions,  and  was  connected  with 
particular  observances,  during  the  continuance  of  the  na- 
tional covenant  with  the  people  of  Israel.  But,  as  in 
sANCTiFicATioN  the  whole  human  race  are  interested,  the 
Sabbath  becomes  a  sign  to  every  nation  in  every  age, 
where  Revelation  with  its  weekly  rest  reaches.  It  is  ac- 
cordingly immediately  connected  in  the  passage  above  cited 
with  the  original  appointment  in  paradise:  *'Six  days  may 
work  be  done;  but  on  the  seventh  is  the  Sabbath  of  rest, 
holy  to  the  Lord — for  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven 
and  earth,  and  on  the  seventh  day  he  rested,  and  was  re- 
freshed."* And  so  Moses,  after  reciting  the  decalogue, 
and  the  two  commands  which  form  the  summary  of  it,  pro- 
nounced in  another  place,  "Thou  shalt  bind  them  for  a 
SIGN  upon  thine  hand. "J 

The  holy  day  of  rest  is,  then,  to  be  regarded  as  the 
sign,  badge,  or  profession  of  the  God  whom  we  serve,  and 
of  the  covenant  of  his  grace,  of  which  we  profess  to  be 
members.  We  testify  our  allegiance  to  the  Lord  who  rose 
again  from  the  dead  ^Hhrough  the  blood  of  the  everlasting 
covenant."  The  Sabbath,  interrupting  our  secular  pur- 
suits, and  calling  us  off  to  the  spiritual  duties  of  religion, 
is  a  symbol  whereby  we  declare  what  God  it  is  we  worship, 
acknowledge  that  the  Lord  revealed  in  the  Bible  is  our  God 
and  no  other;  proclaim  ourselves  the  vassals  and  servants 
of  that  only  God  who  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
in  six  days  and  rested  the  seventh,   and  commanded  us  to 

*  Exodus  xxxi.  13.  t  Ver.  15  &  17.  t  Deut.  vi.  8. 


148  PRACTICAL    DUTIES 

observe  this  suitable  distribution  of  time  as  a  badge  and 
livery  that  we  worship  him  alone.*  And  we  keep  it  under 
the  gospel  on  the  Lord's  day,  to  avow  our  belief  that  on  the 
morning  of  that  day,  the  first  of  the  week,  redemption, 
like  a  second  creation,  was  accomplished,  our  Lord  rose 
from  the  dead,  and  ceased  from  his  work,  and  rested  and 
was  refreshed;  and  that  we  are  the  servants  and  worship- 
pers of  that  adorable  Savior.  Thus  the  covenant  of  grace 
in  Christ  Jesus  is  set  forth  in  our  Christian  celebration  of 
this  festival.  We  are  not  Jews  but  Christians;  and 
wherever  the  religion  of  Christ  is  established,  the  symbol 
and  cognizance  of  the  Resurrection  comes  with  it. 

And  this  not  for  the  mere  avowal  of  our  allegiance,  or  the 
manifestation  of  the  attributes  and  glory  of  our  Creator  and 
Redeemer,  but  also  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  that 
SANCTiFiCATioN  which  it  is  the  end  of  the  covenant  to 
produce.  The  expression  of  the  text  and  of  the  similar 
passage  just  cited,  is  most  remarkable,  ^'Moreover,  I  gave 
them  my  Sabbaths  to  be  a  sign  between  me  and  them, 
that  they  might  know  that  I  am  the  Lord  that  sanctify 
them."  What  an  exalted  end  and  design  of  the  institu- 
tion! Sanctification  is  the  work  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  by 
his  secret  but  effectual  influences  upon  the  heart,  separat- 
ing man  from  the  love  and  service  of  sin,  and  turning  him 
to  God  and  holiness.  The  idea  is  that  of  setting  apart, 
separating,  consecrating  for  certain  holy  purposes.  Thus, 
when  applied  to  sacred  persons,  times,  services,  garments, 
buildings,  it  imports  the  separation  of  them  from  profane 
wses,  and  the  dedication  of  them  to  the  honor  of  God.  So 
the  Sabbath  was  in  Paradise  sanctified  by  the  Almighty, 
that  is,  separated  from  ordinary  employments,  and  set 
apart  for  the  service  and  worship  of  God.  And  how  im- 
portant is  the  thought,  that  the  design  of  the  Almighty  in 
sanctifying  and  hallowing  a  day  of  Sabbath,  was,  that 
man,  his  moral  and  accountable  creature,  might  be  sancti^ 
fied  and  dedicated  by  means  of  it — -that  the  external  con- 
secration of  the  season  ends  in  the  internal  consecration  of 
the  heart  of  man  to  his  Creator  and  Redeemer! 

All  the  designs  of  the  institution  terminate  here..  The 
Sabbath,   was  made,  granted,  vouchsafed  to  man,  as  the 

♦  J,  Mede. 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  149 

principal  season  when  all  the  means  of  sanctification  should 
have  their  effect — when  man's  immortal  nature  should  be 
restored  to  its  true  elevation — when  his  spiritual  and  ac- 
countable powers  should  be  especially  exercised — when  his 
relation  to  God,  his  dependance  upon  him,  his  obligations, 
his  gratitude  and  love,  his  offerings  of  praise,  his  prayers 
and  aspirations  for  future  blessings,  should  be  declared  and 
presented. 

To  rise  up  to  the  dignity  of  the  Sabbath,  and  perform 
any  of  its  duties  aright,  we  must  understand  what  sanctifi- 
cation is,  who  the  great  God  is  to  whose  service  we  are  to 
be  devoted,  what  that  Creator  and  Redeemer  claims  of  us 
ivho  on  this  day  rose  from  the  dead,  what  are  the  terms  of 
that  covenant  of  which  he  is  the  Mediator  and  Lord. 

Even  before  the  fall,  man  in  paradise,  as  we  have  said, 
needed  a  Sabbath,  a  day  of  religion;  and  for  the  like  ends 
— to  be  a  sign  between  God  and  him — to  be  a  means  of 
exercising  and  carrying  on  that  sanctification,  the  principles 
and  habits  of  which  he  already  possessed.  He  was  per- 
mitted to  cease,  he  was  commanded  to  cease,  one  day  in 
seven  from  the  gentle  toil  of  dressing  the  garden  of  Eden, 
that  he  might  devote  the  time  more  immediately  to  his 
Almighty  Creator — to  his  glory — to  the  meditation  on  his 
perfections  and  works — to  the  duties  of  holy  worship  and 
praise — that  thus  the  sanctification  of  all  his  powers  to  his 
service  might  be  confirmed  and  heightened. 

How  much  more,  then,  must  man  since  the  fall  need  this 
holy  day,  both  as  a  sign  of  the  covenant  and  a  means  of 
sanctification.  He  has  now  not  merely  to  carry  on  and 
strengthen  habits  of  holiness,  like  his  first  parent,  but  to 
acquire  them.  TCjhe  covenant,  as  it  respects  him,  is  not  a 
covenant  of  creation,  but  of  restoration;  not  of  works,  but 
of  grace;  not  to  show  his  obedience  by  observing  a  law  to 
which  his  will  is  already  conformed,  but  to  obtain  redemp- 
tion by  believing  in  the  divine  Mediator  of  a  new  and  bet- 
ter covenant.  Sanctification  as  to  man  since  the  fall,  is 
the  recovery  of  the  soul  to  the  lost  image  of  God,  the  illu- 
mination of  a  darkened  understanding,  giving  a  right  direc- 
tion to  the  will,  changing  the  whole  bias  and  course  of  his 
affections  and  conduct,  bringing  him  back  to  God,  his  great 
end,  and  preparing  him  for  the  enjoyment  of  God,  his  ulti- 
mate felicity. 

*13 


150  PRACTICAL    DUTIES 

And  this  answers  the  objection  which  is  sometimes  ab^ 
surdly  or  ignorantly  made,  "That  under  the  gospel  every 
day  is  a  Sabbath — all  we  do  is  to  be  done  to  the  glory  of 
God — a  spiritual  and  perfect  dispensation  claims  all  we 
have  and  are.''  And  yet  in  paradise,  where  man  walked 
before  God  in  his  original  uprightness,  he  was  called  on  ta 
keep  a  Sabbath.  How  idle  then  is  the  plea,  now  that 
man  is  fallen.  Those  who  urge  it,  know  little  of  the  na- 
ture of  true  sanctification,  and  of  the  difficulties  under  which 
it  is  attained  in  this  world  of  conflict.  Even  if  entire  holi- 
ness could  be  reached  in  this  imperfect  state,  a  day  of  rest 
would  be  indispensable  for  the  honor  of  God's  name,  for  the 
more  immediate  duties  of  public  and  private  devotion,  and 
for  carrying  out  into  full  exercise  the  principles  of  holiness. 
But  it  is  folly,  it  is  presumption  to  talk  thus,  whilst  man  in 
his  best  attainments  is  full  of  defects  and  errors,  full  of 
corrupt  tendencies — needs  a  day  of  sanctification  to  remind 
him  of  his  dangers,  to  bring  him  out  from  the  snares  of  life, 
to  lift  his  heart  more  entirely  towards  heaven.  Those  who 
talk  of  every  day  being  a  Sabbath,  mean  in  fact  that  no 
day  should  be  such.  Besides,  the  expression  "keeping  holy," 
as  it  applies  to  the  ordinary  days  of  the  week,  and  as  it 
fixes  itself  on  the  day  of  God,  has  a  different  force  and  ap- 
plication. To  keep  holy  the  six  days  of  the  week,  means^ 
only  that  we  intermingle  family  and  private  devotions  with 
our  lawful  labor  and  work  on  those  days — that  we  direct 
our  secular  calling  to  God's  glory — that  we  implore  his 
blessing  upon  ail  our  occupations.  But  "to  keep  holy"  the 
seventh  day  is  to  suspend  those  occupations,  to  forbear  all 
our  ordinary  works,  to  renounce  all  our  secular  business,  and 
to  devote  all  the  hours  of  the  day  to  the  immediate  care  of 
our  souls,  and  the  immediate  worship  of  God.  We  are  as 
much  called  to  work  the  six  days,  as  we  are  to  rest  on  the 
seventh. 

This  is,  then,  the  first  practical  duty  of  the  Lord's  day, 
to  keep  ever  in  view  its  great  end.  The  sanctification  of 
it  begins,  as  to  us,  when  our  dedication  to  God  begins.  We 
hallow  the  Sabbath  when  we  ourselves  are  hallowed  to  God. 
We  awake  to  the  true  importance  of  the  institution,  when 
we  feel  our  fallen  and  sinful  state,  when  we  receive  the  cov- 
enant of  grace  as  proposed  in  the  gospel,  when  we  seek  to 
be  sanctified,  body,  soul  and  spirit,  to  be  the  Lord's.     A 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  161 

divine  life  infused  into  the  soul  of  man — a  perception  of  the 
nature  and  excellency  of  spiritual  things — a  view  of  the 
glory  and  majesty  of  the  great  Redeemer — a  reliance  upon 
his  death  and  resurrection — a  dependance  upon  the  influ- 
ence of  his  Holy  Spirit, — these  bring  the  Sabbath  and  the 
human  heart  together.  The  Sabbath  is  born  to  man  when 
he  is  born  to  God.  Then  it  recals,  revives,  strengthens, 
all  the  principles  of  sanctification.  Then  it  not  only  gives 
him  the  time,  and  affords  him  the  means,  and  calls  him  to 
the  duties  of  sanctification;  but  it  leads  him  to  employ  all 
these  to  their  proper  end.  And  thus  the  Lord  is  pleased 
to  sanctify  man;  thus  the  day  is  a  sign  between  him  and 
us;  thus  the  final  ends  of  all  religion  are  advanced. 

And  here  lies  the  fundamental  defect  in  so  many  of  our 
cases — we  do  not  feel  the  unspeakable  importance  of  holi- 
ness— we  do  not  desire  sanctification — we  stop  in  the  ex- 
ternal and  official  parts  of  the  sabbatical  institution:  we 
have  lost  the  due  sense  of  what  consecration  of  heart 
to  God  means,  and  therefore  of  what  we  should  aim  at 
on  the  day  with  which  it  is  connected. 

Consider,  then,  I  entreat  you,  my  dear  brethren,  the 
only  manner  in  which  you  can  enter  on  the  practical  duties 
of  the  Lord's  day  aright.  Examine  your  state  before  God. 
Have  you  any  desire  to  be  made  holy,  to  be  pardoned,  to 
be  separated  from  sin,  to  be  dedicated  to  God.^  Do  you 
wish  really  to  know  the  demands  which  Christianity  makes 
upon  you?  Do  you  seek  earnestly  the  way  of  salvation? — 
Behold,  then,  what  you  want.  There  is  the  day  when  all 
this  is  to  be  learned.  There  is  the  covenant  of  which  that 
day  is  a  sign.  There  is  the  sanctification  which  all  the 
ordinances  and  exercises  of  that  day  are  calculated  to  pro- 
duce. Implore,  then,  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  af- 
fect your  heart  seriously  with  these  truths,  and  thus  will  all 
the  other  directions  we  may  offer  fall  into  their  due  place. 
For  sanctification  being  proposed  as  the  great  end  of  the 
Sabbath, 

n.  The  public  and  private  duties  of  it  will  fol- 
low most  naturally. 

These  will  demand  of  us  less  time,  because  the  main 
design  being  comprehended  and  felt,  the  details  of  particu- 
lar rules  will  be  easy;  and  yet  we  must  not  omit  them. 
They  relate  to  the  public  worship   of  the  Almighty;  the 


152  PRACTICAL    DUTIES 

care  of  our  family;  our  personal  and  private  communion 
with  God;  a  due  attention  to  all  dependant  on  us,  extend- 
ing even  to  our  cattle;  together  with  such  necessary  offices 
of  charity  as  arise  in  the  course  of  the  sacred  duties  of  the 
day. 

1.  The  public  exercises  op  God's  worship  and 
the  fellowship  of  Christians  with  each  other  in  common 
acts  of  prayer  and  praise,  are  the  leading  business  of  this 
holy  season.  The  rest  from  temporal  employments  is  in 
order  to  perform  the  solemn  services  of  the  sanctuary  in 
the  first  place.  A  holy  convocation  was  a  part  of  the  sab- 
batical worship  under  the  law.  The  psalmist,  and  the 
prophets  after  him,  dwell  much  upon  the  public  ordinances, 
the  temple,  the  house  of  prayer,  the  courts  of  the  Lord's 
house.  The  first  mention  of  our  Lord's  conduct  on  the 
Sabbath,  is  that  his  custom  was  to  attend  the  synagogue. 

He  appeared  to  his  disciples,  also,  more  than  once,  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week,  after  his  resurrection,  and  chang- 
ed the  day  of  rest  to  honor  this  event.  It  was  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  again,  that  the  apostles  met  the  Chris- 
tian churches,  and  preached  the  gospel  to  them,  and  cele- 
brated "the  breaking  of  bread,"  as  the  Eucharist  is  some- 
times called.  The  precept  "not  to  forsake  the  assembling 
of  themselves  together,"  completes  the  proof  and  devolves 
the  duty  upon  us.  Man  as  a  social  creature,  never  glorifies 
God  more,  nor  advances  his  own  sanctification  in  a  larger 
measure,  than  when  he  openly  recognizes  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, and  honors  the  resurrection  of  its  divine  Founder  in 
public  assemblies.  There  the  Holy  Spirit  loves  to  dwell 
— there  the  people  unite  in  the  confession  of  sin  to  the 
glory  of  God's  righteousness — there  they  implore  in  com- 
mon the  gift  of  pardon  and  receive  its  assurances — there 
they  hear  the  word  of  God  solemnly  read — there  the  sac- 
raments are  administered — there  they  pour  out  their  litanies 
at  the  throne  of  grace — there  they  hear  the  gospel  preach- 
ed and  its  truths  applied  to  their  hearts  and  consciences, — 
and  there,  finally,  they  sing  the  high  praises  of  their 
Maker,  Benefactor,  Redeemer,  and  Sanctifier.  Such  wor- 
ship resembles  that  of  the  angelic  choirs  of  heaven.  The 
six  days'  work  and  toil  and  temptation  are  forgotten — 
Christ  himself  is  present — it  is  "none  other  than  the  house 
of  God,  it  is  the  gate  of  heaven."     Heaven  is  the  place 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  153 

of  the  public  uninterrupted  worsliip  of  God.     Angels   and 

florified  spirits  unceasingly  cry  "Holy,  holy,  holy  is  the 
lOrd  of  hosts."  And  in  nothing  does  the  church  on  earth 
so  nearly  approach  the  church  above,  as  in  the  harraonious 
and  devout  exercises  of  public  vrorship. 

An  early  attendance — a  devout  interest  in  all  the  parts 
of  the  service — ^an  application  to  our  own  case  of  the  pray- 
ers, lessons,  sermons — fervent  gratitude  in  the  offerings  of 
praise — an  edifying  posture  and  demeanor — a  candid  and 
docile  consideration  of  the  doctrine  delivered — these  are  the 
indications  of  the  true  worshipper;  who  confines  not  his 
public  duties  to  one  attendance,  but  rejoices  twice  to  ap- 
pear in  those  "courts"  where  his  heart  wishes  to  "dwell." 
2.  The  care  of  our  families  must  not,  however,  be 
neglected,  whilst  we  first  discharge  our  public  duties.  We 
must  not  leave  our  children  and  servants  to  do  as  they 
I  please,  but  we  must  stop  all  the  secular  work  which  might 
i  tempt  them  to  violate  the  holy  day,  dispose  of  our  concerns 
^  with  the  best  management,  so  as  to  admit  of  our  household 
devoting  themselves  to  their  religious  offices,  and  encour- 
age them  to  perform  those  offices  both  public  and  private, 
by  every  suitable  means.  And  therefore  the  fourth  com- 
mandment is  A  FAMILY  commandment.  The  heads  of 
families  are  made  answerable  for  all  who  are  under  their 
roof.  "Six  days  are  we  to  labor  and  do,"  not  the  greatest 
part,  but  "a//  our  work."  There  is  no  exception  for  the 
idle,  the  busy  or  the  sick.  But  lest  any  should  feign  a 
plea,  the  commandment  goes  on  and  prohibits  us  expressly 
from  doing  any  work.  "In  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work." 
And  that  a  depraved  heart,  fertile  in  evasions,  may  not  be 
able  to  suggest  that  children,  servants,  and  cattle,  are  not 
included,  each  class  is  enumerated;  "In  it  thou  shalt  not 
do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  nor  thy 
man-servant,  nor  thy  maid-servant,  nor  the  stranger  that  is 
within  thy  gates;"  and  the  merciful  reason  is  adjoined  in 
the  recapitulation  of  the  law,  "that  thy  man-servant  and 
thy  maid-servant  may  rest  as  well  thou."  The  discharge 
of  them  from  all  ordinary  and  servile  work  is  indispensable. 
If  they  serve  us  the  six  days,  we  are  to  take  care  that 
they  serve  God  on  the  seventh.  The  boon  and  grant  of 
one  day's  rest  extends  to  the  whole  hurtan  race;  and  we 
roust  see  that  in  our  household  the  gift  is  pot  lost.     It  i& 


154  PRACTICAL    DUTIES 

our  business  to  complete  on  the  Saturday,  or  postpone  to 
the  Monday,  what  would  intrench  on  the  sabbath-rest.  It 
is  easy,  it  is  delightful  for  the  master  of  the  family  to  do 
this.  He  will  provide  time  for  all  his  household  to  attend 
once,  and  if  possible  twice,  the  public  worship.  His  do- 
mestic prayers  will  on  that  sacred  day  be  extended.  The 
more  solemn  reading  and  explaining  of  God's  word,  with 
prayers  for  a  suitable  state  of  mind  for  public  services,  will 
be  the  employ  of  the  Sunday  morning;  and  in  the  afternoon, 
or  evening,  as  the  case  may  be,  he  will  catechise  the  young 
and  give  familiar  and  more  detailed  instruction  to  his  ser- 
vants. The  head  of  every  family  has  a  charge  of  souls, 
as  it  were  committed  to  him;  he  is  a  priest  in  his  own  house. 
He  has  to  promoie  the  sanctification  of  all  under  his  roof. 
His  order,  his  piety,  his  appearance,  in  public  church  and 
in  his  house,  surrounded  with  his  children,  and  dependants, 
is  an  acknowledgment  and  badge  of  the  God  whom  he 
worships.  He  must  not,  like  Eli,  yield,  from  cowardice 
and  a  false  indulgence,  to  the  bad  habits  and  inclinations 
of  those  around  him;  but  like  Abraham,  "command  his 
children  and  his  household  after  him;"  and,  like  Joshua, 
resolve,  "As  for  me  and  my  house  we  will  serve  the 
Lord." 

3.  The  private  and  personal  duties  must  prepare 
for,  and  succeed  the  public  and  domestic.  For  the  Sab- 
bath is  for  the  sanctification  of  each  individual.  It  is  a 
barrier  thrown  in  upon  the  current  of  worldly  things,  be- 
hind which,  each  one  is  to  collect  himself  and  stem  the 
tide,  and  work  himself  back  again  to  his  God.  More  de- 
pends on  the  intervals  between  the  social  and  public  ex- 
ercises of  the  Lord's  day,  than  we  may  at  first  imagine. 
Fill  them  up  with  vain  conversations,  idle  visits,  worldly 
reading,  carelessness,  indolence,  sloth,  and  all  the  fruit  of 
public  and  domestic  worship  is  destroyed — the  taste  for 
them  is  lost — and  the  form  of  them  will  not  be  long  perse- 
vered in.  But  let  these  interstices  be  duly  occupied  with 
earnest  prayer  and  examination  of  the  heart,  communion 
with  God,  meditation,  intercession  for  children,  family, 
friends,  reflections  on  the  public  instruction  we  have  receiv- 
ed,— and  all  will  assume  another  complexion.  In  these 
secret  musings,  the  heart  is  visited  with  grace,  the  sermons 
and  lessons  sink  deep  into  the  habit,  the  mind   is  calmed 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH,  155 

and  tranquillized,  some  additional  power  of  interior  devo- 
tion is  acquired.  And  it  is  for  these  private  duties,  as  well 
as  for  the  more  public,  that  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath  is  given. 
They  are  the  cement,  as  it  were,  which  binds  tog-ether  the 
separate  materials  of  the  sacred  festival,  which  without  it, 
fall  to  pieces,  sink  into  decay,  and  lose  all  their  plastic  en- 
ergy and  force.  How  can  we  expect  any  breathings  of 
grace,  any  communion  with  the  Father  of  spirits,  any  quick- 
ening and  elevation  of  the  heart,  if  we  draw  near  to  God 
merely  in  the  outward  form  and  mock  him  with  a  pretence 
of  service,  the  affections  being  left  behind?  A  heart  un- 
prepared by  private  duties,  is  not  likely  to  be  benefited  by 
public:  and  on  the  other  hand,  instructions  and  exercises 
in  the  house  of  God,  not  followed  by  secret  meditation  and 
prayer,  are  not  likely  to  abide  in  the  memory  or  influence 
the  conduct. 

4.  But  besides  our  immediate  family,  the  duties  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath  extend  to  our  dependants — to  "the 
stranger  within  our  gates" — to  all  over  whom  we  have  any 
natural  influence — and  even  to  the  irrational  creatures  who 
subserve  our  comfort,  and  whose  repose  is  commanded  both 
for  their  own  sakes  and  to  render  more  completely  practi- 
cal the  duty  of  religious  rest  enjoined  upon  man,  their  lord. 
These  provisions  breathe  all  the  mercy  of  the  divine  law: 
the  terms  are  remarkable — "That  thy  man-servant  and 
thy  maid-servant  may  rest  as  well  as  thou" — "Remember 
that  thou  wast  a  servant  in  the  land  of  Egypt." — "Thou 
knowest  the  heart  of  a  stranger." 

How  lamentably  the  spirit  of  these  injunctions  is  violat- 
ed, is  but  too  manifest.  The  shops  and  warehouses  of  too 
many  witness  against  them.  The  counting-houses  and  offi- 
ces and  counsel-rooms  of  too  many  are  the  destruction  of 
souls.  The  negligence  of  masters  as  to  the  morals  of  the 
young,  and  their  religious  observance  of  the  Sunday,  merely 
on  the  plea  that  they  are  not  domestics,  will  be  no  ade- 
quate defence  at  the  tribunal  of  God.  The  workmen  in 
manufactories  are  committed  to  the  care  of  the  persons 
whom  they  serve.  Contrivance,  management,  order,  are 
required  of  them.  Influence  is  a  talent  for  which  an  ac- 
count must  be  rendered  another  day.  All  nature  is  to  be 
hushed  into  repose  on  the  blessed,  hallowed  season  of  rest 
— all  the  confusion  of  the  world  to  cease — all  the  pursuits 


156  PRACTICAL    DUTIES 

of  even  lawful  gain  to  be  suspended — all  the  hurry  of  life 
to  be  calmed — not  only  the  master  and  parent  with  his  fam- 
ily, but  the  principals  and  conductors  of  professional  or 
commercial  concerns — the  statesman  in  his  cabinet — the 
magistrate  on  the  bench — the  merchant  in  his  house  of 
affairs — the  traveller  on  his  journey — the  lawyer  in  his 
office — the  scholar  in  his  study, — all  must  be  interrupted 
and  called  aside,  to  honor  the  day  which  is  the  sign  of  the 
Christian  covenant,  and  the  means  of  Christian  sanctifica- 
tion — man  and  beast  are  to  recreate  their  wasted  powers, 
the  beast  in  the  repose  of  which  it  is  capable,  man  in  the 
dignified  and  rational  refreshment,  for  which  God  has  pecu- 
liarly qualified  him. 

Works  of  real  necessity  and  mercy  may,  indeed,  be 
done  on  the  sacred  day,  such  as  our  Lord  by  his  example 
authorised,  and  as  the  great  moral  ends  of  the  institution 
persuade.  We  relieve  the  sick  from  present  suffering,  we 
satisfy  the  demands  of  hunger,  we  pull  an  ox  or  an  ass  from 
a  pit,  we  give  food  to  our  cattle,  we  use  the  gentle  labor  of 
our  domestic  animals,  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  for  con- 
veying us  and  our  families  to  the  public  worship  of  God, 
when  sickness  or  unavoidable  distance  compels.  But  we 
may  not  give  a  wider,  or  more  lax  construction  to  the  fourth 
commandment,  than  what  the  intention  of  the  great  Legis- 
lator imports,  and  our  Lord  has  determined.  Such  expla- 
nation, in  opposition  to  the  decrees  of  the  Jewish  doctors, 
as  he  judged  necessary,  he  gave;  but  in  all  other  respects, 
left  the  law  just  as  he  found  it.  Works  of  necessity  and 
charity  must  not  be  multiplied  without  just  cause;  much  less 
must  works  of  vanity,  sloth,  carelessness,  be  performed 
under  the  cloke  of  them.  No  rule  can  be  laid  down  for 
others.  Conscience,  and  a  sincere  desire  to  glorify  God, 
must  determine.  Let  the  main  design  of  the  day,  our 
sanctification,  and  the  practical  duties  of  it,  as  it  respects 
public  and  private,  domestic  and  personal  devotion,  be  per- 
formed in  subserviency  thereto,  and  works  of  necessary 
CHARITY,  (for  such  is  the  more  accurate  bearing  of  our 
Lord's  example,)*  will  not  be  unduly  undertaken. 

And  need  I  stop  here  to  refute  the  mere  evasion,  which 
would  allow  the  obligation  of  the  Lord's  day  as  to  public 

*  Dr.  Humphrey's  Essays,  o.  43. 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  157 

worship,  and  deny  it  as  to  the  remaining  duties  of  the  insti- 
tution? What!  is  it  enough  merely  to  worship  God  for  one 
meagre  hour  or  two,  and  then  resign  ourselves  to  the  world 
and  its  cares?  What!  can  public  worship  be  celebrated 
with  any  spirituality  of  mind,  without  preparatory  and  sub- 
sequent meditation  and  prayer?  What!  are  the  family 
devotions  of  other  days  to  be  discontinued  on  the  day  when 
they  ought  to  be  enlarged  and  multiplied?  What!  is  it  the 
Sabbath  morning  that  we  are  to  sanctify,  or  the  Sabbath 
EVENING,  only,  and  not  the  Sabbath-day, — the  whole 
period  from  the  close  of  the  last  working  day  till  the  dawn 
of  the  next?  Yes;  the  whole  day  is  not  too  long  for  God, 
for  Christ,  for  the  soul:  if  the  entire  command  is  not  com- 
plied with,  none  is. 

Or  need  I  stop  to  enumerate  those  various  secular  works, 
which  are  unlawful  on  this  day  of  the  Lord  ?  Need  I  ex- 
pose the  miserable  sophistry,  which  substitutes  a  mere 
change  of  worldly  engagements  for  the  holy  duties  of  divine 
prayer  and  praise? — What,  if  I  close  my  office  or  my  shop, 
and  open  my  drawer  of  accounts,  and  write  letters  of 
affairs,  am  I  sanctifying  the  Sabbath?  What,  if  I  with- 
draw from  the  exchange,  or  the  courts  of  law,  into  the 
chamber  of  consultation,  or  the  secret  room  of  settlements 
and  bargains,  is  this  keeping  the  Lord's  day?  What!  I 
employ  not  my  laborers  on  Sunday,  but  I  pay  them  their 
wages,  and  almost  oblige  them  to  make  their  purchases  on 
that  sacred  day;  and  is  this  to  keep  it  holy?  Or,  I  quit  the 
hurry  of  the  city  or  town,  for  the  mere  sensual  indulgence 
of  the  suburban  retreat — I  '^eat,  and  drink,  and  am  mer- 
ry;" I  collect  around  me  friends  as  thoughtless  as  myself — 
I  employ  my  servants  in  the  unnecessary  toil  of  preparing 
luxurious  meals — I  go  from  the  church  to  the  ride,  the  gar- 
den, the  park,  the  pleasure-ground,  the  river.  I  walk  over 
my  farm  or  my  lands,  I  arrange  for  the  business  of  the  fol- 
lowing week,  I  plunge  into  literary  or  scientific  reading,  I 
lose  my  devotional  feelings  in  the  abominations  of  a  Sun- 
day-newspaper— and  this  I  call  religion — this  I  designate 
as  the  sanctification  of  the  Lord's  day! 

But  indeed.  Christian  brethren,  the  duties  of  this  holy 

season  are  so  spiritual,  so  opposite  to  the  carnal  and  earthly 

tendencies  of  human  nature,   so  surrounded  by  temptations 

and  suggestions  on  all  hands,  that  there  is  not  one  of  us 

14 


158  PRACTICAL   DUTIES 

but  may  discern  much  to  be  amended,  improved,  omitted, 
supplied.  Our  order  of  engagements  is  incomplete,  our  care 
of  our  family  wanting  in  vigilance,  our  forethought  drowsy 
and  treacherous,  our  interruptions  of  religious  exercises  too 
frequent  and  too  long.  There  is  much  that  admits  of  alter- 
ation. Let  us  look  well  into  our  family  rules,  family  habits, 
family  hours,  family  religion,  family  attendance  on  the  public 
worship  of  God,  and  we  shall  discern  lamentable  marks  of 
decay  and  lukewarmness, — we  shall  discern  many  things, 
which,  if  not  dishonorable  to  the  Sabbath,  are  at  least  not 
so  honorable  to  it  as  they  might  be.  But  this  leads  me  to 
consider, 

III.  That  in  order  to  keep  holy  the  Lord's  day,  we  must 
carry  the  true  spirit  of  the  christian  dispensa- 
tion INTO  these  duties.  We  must  not  celebrate  a  Jew- 
ish but  a  Christian  festival.  We  must  imbibe  that  spirit 
of  rest  and  delight  in  God,  that  sense  of  refreshment  and 
repose,  in  his  more  immediate  service,  which  the  liberty  of 
the  gospel  breathes,  and  without  some  degree  of  which  we 
can  never  discharge  these  duties  aright. 

The  general  habit  of  mind  cannot  be  better  described 
than  in  the  words  of  the  psalmist:  "How  amiable  are  thy 
tabernacles,  O  Lord  of  Hosts;  my  soul  longeth,  yea,  even 
fainteth  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord;  my  heart  and  my  flesh 
crieth  out  for  the  living  God — a  day  in  thy  courts  is  better 
than  a  thousand;  I  had  rather  be  a  door-keeper  in  the 
house  of  my  God,  than  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  wickedness.^ 
Or  again,  "One  thing  have  I  desired  of  the  Lord,  that  will 
I  seek  after,  that  I  may  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  all 
the  days  of  my  life,  to  behold  the  fair  beauty  of  the  Lord, 
and  inquire  in  his  temple. "f  Or  again,  "My  soul  shall  be 
satisfied  as  with  marrow  and  fatness,  and  my  mouth  shall 
praise  thee  with  joyful  lips. "J 

This  is  the  language  of  delight,  of  repose  of  soul  in  the 
duties  of  religion.  Join  to  this  the  particular  discoveries 
of  the  New  Testament,  as  to  the  way  of  access  in  the  blood 
of  Christ,  and  by  the  influences  of  the  Spirit,  and  we  have 
the  complete  description  of  the  devotional  temper. 

In  like  manner,  the  Holy  prophets — "Blessed  is  the  man 
that  doeth  this,  and  the  son  of  man  that  layeth  hold  of  it 
— that  chooseth  the  things  that  please  me — that  join  them- 
selves to  the  Lord,  to  serve  him,  and  to  love  the  name  of 

*  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  1,  2, 10.  t  Ps.  xxvii.  4.  t  Ps.  Ixiii.  5. 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  159 

the  Lord — even  them  will  I  bring  to  my  holy  mountain,  and 
make  thera  joyful  in  my  house  of  prayer."*  Love,  choice 
of  God,  joy  in  the  house  of  prayer,  stand  in  complete  con- 
trast with  a  yoke,  a  burden,  a  mere  task,  as  too  many  rep- 
resent the  duties  of  religion  to  be. 

But  the  most  ample  account  of  the  spirit  which  should 
pervade  the  sabbatical  duties,  is  in  a  passage  which,  in 
common  with  the  preceding,  we  have  formerly  quoted  for 
another  purpose;  "If  thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  Sab- 
bath, from  doing  thy  pleasure  on  my  holy  day;  and  call  the 
Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy  of  the  Lord,  honorable;  and 
shalt  honor  him,  not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine 
own  pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine  own  words;  then  shalt 
thou  delight  thyself  in  the  Lord."t  Here,  the'spirit  of  the 
right  observance  of  the  Lord's  day  is  expressed  in  a  most 
striking  phrase — "if  thou    call  the  Sabbath  a  delight, 

THE  HOLY  OF  THE  LORD,  HONORABLE,  AND  SHALT  HONOR 

HIM."  We  are  to  esteem  it  honorable,  abpve  all  other 
days;  we  are  peculiarly  to  honor  Him,  whose  bounty  created 
us,  whose  long-suffering  has  preserved  us,  and  whose  un- 
searchable goodness  has  provided  for  us  a  way  of  eternal 
redemption.  Then  joy  will  fill  our  hearts.  The  glory  of 
our  divine  Lord,  his  majesty,  his  sovereignty  over  us,  his 
infinite  excellency,  his  continued  benefits,  his  omnipotent, 
never-failing  providence,  will  possess  our  minds;  and  we 
shall  feel,  as  the  Sabbath  morn  returns,  that  we  are  going 
to  the  palace  of  the  great  King,  that  we  are  approaching 
the  abode  of  a  heavenly  Father,  that  we  are  going  up  to 
God,  to  "God  our  exceeding  joy."  From  this  temper  will 
flow  the  appropriate  dispositions  which  should  govern  the 
details  of  the  day.  The  chief  of  these  is,  spiritual  repose 
of  heart  in  God,  in  opposition  to  earthly,  sensual,  intellec- 
tual pleasure — "If  thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  Sab- 
bath, from  doing  thy  pleasure,  on  my  holy  day."  Here 
is  the  main  difficulty:  so  long  as  sensual  repose,  instead  of 
spiritual;  intellectual  effort,  instead  of  devotional;  the 
pleasure  of  the  mere  appetites,  instead  of  the  pleasure  of 
the  soul  in  God,  is  the  governing  principle  in  our  religion, 
the  Sabbath  will  never  be  kept  aright.  A  change  in  our 
taste  and  estimate  of  things,  must  first  touch  the  main  springs 
oi  happiness.     Then  we  shall  cease  from  "doing  our  pleas- 

*  Isa.  Ivi.  2,  7.  '  t  Isa.  Iviii.  13,  14. 


160  PRACTICAL    DUTIES 

ure;"  and  shall  willingly  aim  at  doing  the  pleasure  of  God. 
Amusement,  recreation,  pastimes,  indolent  repose,  satisfac- 
tion in  worldly  company,  worldly  society,  worldly  banquets, 
will  cease;  new  pleasures  will  be  sought  for  in  the  pleas- 
ures of  devotion,  of  faith,  of  hope,  of  communion  with  God. 
Then  will  the  Sabbath  be  a  "delight,  the  holy  of  the  Lord, 
honorable;"  and  we  shall  honor  god  in  it.  And  thus 
will  our  pleasure,  ways,  words,  works,  be  newly  directed. 
Instead  of  "doing  our  own  ways,"  we  shall  choose  the  ways 
that  God  commands,  and  occupy  the  Sabbath  with  its  ap- 
propriate duties.  Instead  of  "finding  our  own  pleasure," 
we  shall  find  God's,  or  rather,  shall  perceive  a  new  and 
more  elevated  pleasure  in  his  service;  instead  of  "speaking 
our  own  words,"  we  shall  order  our  conversation  to  the 
glory  of  God,  and  the  edification  of  our  neighbor.  Per- 
haps there  are  few  sins  more  common,  and  more  insidious 
than  that  to  which  these  last  words  refer,  "speaking  our 
own  words,"  that  is,  secular  conversation  on  the  Sunday 
—  news,  inquiries,  discussions  on  matters  literary,  political, 
philosophical.  Thus  all  impression  of  spiritual  things  fades 
from  the  mind;  the  seed  of  the  word  is  lost;  the  ordinary 
associations  and  habits  of  the  six  days'  labor  are  insensi- 
bly resumed,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  quenched  and  grieved. 

I  need  not  add  here,  that  the  reading  of  Sunday  news- 
papers is  directly  in  contradiction  to  the  whole  spirit  which 
should  be  cultivated  on  that  blessed  day.  It  encourages 
the  most  flagrant  violation  of  the  Sabbath,  in  those  who 
print,  who  sell,  who  circulate  these  monstrous  productions 
— too  commonly  filled  with  matter  of  the  most  licentious  and 
sceptical  tendency;  and  more  injurious  and  contaminating, 
from  the  day  on  which  they  are  disseminated.  They  totally 
unfit  the  mind  for  the  religious  duties  before  it;  or  rather, 
they  make  those  duties  impracticable. 

But  how  delightful  is  the  Sabbath,  when  occupied  as  it 
should  be!  Can  any  picture  be  more  inviting  than  that  of 
a  family,  a  neighborhood,  a  parish,  honoring  the  day  of  God 
with  cheerful  and  grateful  hearts — meditating  on  that  sanc- 
tification  which  is  the  great  design  of  the  day  of  rest — fill- 
ing up  its  hours  with  the  various  and  important  exercises  of 
public  and  private  devotion — and  imbuing  every  act  of 
duty  with  the  Christian  temper,  with  the  filial  spirit — the 
spirit  not  "of  bondage  again  to  fear,  but  the  spirit  of  adop- 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  161 

tion,  crying,  Abba,  Father?"*  How  quickly  would  diffi- 
culties be  overcome,  if  once  we  found  our  pleasure  in  the 
exercises  of  religion!  See  how  men  contrive,  labor,  sur- 
mount obstacles,  for  the  enjoyment  of  what  they  love!  Ob- 
serve how  eagerly  they  hasten  on  the  hour,  when  the  pleas- 
ure returns.  Mark  how  they  endeavor  to  lengthen  the  pe- 
riod of  its  continuance — then  contrast  with  this  the  weari- 
ness they  feel  in  the  duties  of  the  Sabbath — how  they 
abridge  the  heavy  employ — how  they  encroach  insensi- 
bly on  its  prescribed  limits — how  they  contrive  pleas  of 
necessity  for  escaping  from  some  of  its  services — how 
tame  and  formal  they  are  in  the  discharge  of  them — 
how  late  in  their  arrival  at  the  house  of  God!  What  ir- 
reverence in  their  manner!  How  insensible  to  the  sym- 
pathies of  devotion!  How  awake  to  every  slight  inconve- 
nience, every  occasional  prolongation  of  the  prayers  or 
sermon — every  pressure  of  heat  or  cold — every  defect  in 
the  manner  or  voice  of  the  minister!  What  does  all  this 
betray,  but  the  inward  dissatisfaction,  the  want  of  harmony 
of  feeling  in  the  services!  Let  the  spirit  of  the  Christian 
dispensation  imbue  their  minds,  and  all  would  change  its 
appearance.  Pleasure,  delight,  would  beam  in  the  coun- 
tenance, and  all  would  be  in  keeping  with  the  designs  of 
the  Almighty,  in  the  institution  of  the  day. 

But  we  hasten  to  complete  our  review  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  Christian  Sabbath  should  be  observed,  by 
suggesting,  that  in  addition  to  what  we  have  noted,  we  must 

IV.  Especially  glorify  God  for  those  mighty  bless- 
ings   WHICH    ARE    APPOINTED    TO  BE  COMMEMORATED    ON 

THE  Lord's  day — Creation,  Redemption,  Heaven. 

These  are  the  express  topics  in  the  divine  praise,  for 
which  the  Sabbath  was  constituted.  We  must  join  the 
commemoration  of  these  to  the  other  duties  of  sanctification, 
of  public  and  private  devotion,  and  of  a  temper  of  filial  repose 
and  joy  in  God.  I  conceive  we  are  often  lamentably  de- 
ficient in  those  direct  acts  of  adoration  and  gratitude,  for 
the  peculiar  and  stupendous  blessings  of  providence  and 
grace,  which  the  Sabbath  is  designed  to  celebrate.  We 
enter  perhaps  into  the  other  branches  of  our  duty  with  some 
feeling;  but  our  minds   are  too  exclusively  occupied  with 

*  Rom.  viii.  13. 
*14 


162  PRACTICAL   DUTIES 

ourselves,  and  our  own  immediate  circle  of  trials  and  duties 
— we  are  selfish  and  contracted  in  our  gratitude — we  do 
not  rise  up  to  God  in  the  magnificence  of  his  benefits — we 
forget  that  songs  ever  new  should  be  chanted  to  him  who 
doeth  such  great  things  for  us. 

Call  to  mind  how  expressly  creation  is  assigned  as  a 
reason  for  the  appointment  of  the  sacred  day — "For  in  six 
days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all 
things  that  are  therein," — not  merely  at  the  institution  in 
Paradise,  but  in  the  Mosaic  law,  in  the  various  recapitu- 
lations of  it,  and  even  in  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  where 
the  subject  is  merely  referred  to.  Yes,  the  Sabbath  is  the 
celebration  of  God's  glory  in  nature.  We  confess  ourselves 
the  worshippers  of  the  one  living  and  true  God.  We  sep- 
arate ourselves  from  atheists,  unbelievers,  sceptics,  profane 
contemners  of  God,  now;  just  as  the  patriarchs  and  Isra- 
elites of  old  separated  themselves  from  heathens,  from  idola- 
ters, from  the  pagan  worshippers  of  the  nations  around  them. 
We  should  every  Sabbath,  when  we  rehearse  our  articles 
of  faith  in  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  or  when  the  sacred  his- 
tories, and  psalms  which  relate  to  the  creation,  are  read, 
as  well  as  in  our  own  private  and  domestic  devotions,  glo- 
rify expressly  the  great  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  adore 
the  wonders  of  his  hand,  meditate  on  his  wisdom,  goodness, 
and  power,  and  ascribe  to  him  the  praise  of  creation,  pres- 
ervation, continual  deliverance.  A  Christian  is  the  only 
true  philosopher.  He  sees  God  in  every  thing.  He  ac- 
knowledges the  traces  of  his  matchless  skill  on  every  side. 
He  discovers  a  father's  love  in  all  the  order  of  the  universe. 
He  imitates  the  song  by  which  the  first  Sabbath  was  cele- 
brated at  the  creation  of  man,  when  "the  morning  stars 
sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy." 
The  Sabbath  is  to  him  a  sign,  a  badge,  a  cognizance  of 
his  allegiance  to  his  glorious  Creator,  the  "King  eternal, 
inimortal,  invisible,  the  only  wise  God."  He  "in  whose 
hands  our  breath  is,  and  whose  are  all  our  ways." 

2.  But  REDEMPTION  is  a  yet  higher  note  in  the  choir 
oj  praise,  which  on  the  Sabbath  surrounds  our  heavenly 
King.  At  the  deliverance  from  Egypt  this  song  was  be- 
gun; but  at  the  great  deliverance  from  the  spiritual  Egypt,  it 
was  amplified  and  exalted.  This  temporal  redemption  was 
prefixed  to  the  promulgation  of  the  whole  decalogue,  from 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  163 

the  Mount  of  Sinai:  *'I  am  the  Lord  thy  God  which  brought 
thee  out  of  the  Land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bond- 
age;" and  it  was  attached  especially  to  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, in  the  last  recapitulation  of  it  by  Moses:  "And 
remember  that  thou  wast  a  stranger  in  the  land  of  Egypt, 
and  that  the  Lord  thy  God  brought  thee  out  hence,  through 
a  mighty  hand,  and  by  a  stretched  out  arm;  therefore  the 
Lord  thy  God  commanded  thee  to  keep  the  Sabbath-day." 
And  the  spiritual  redemption  was  the  reason  of  that  change 
of  the  day  of  celebration,  which  from  the  temporal,  trans- 
ferred it  to  the  eternal  blessing.  Yes;  on  the  first  day  of 
the  week  we  adore  a  triumphant  Savior,  we  meditate  on 
his  ceasing  and  resting  and  being  refreshed  from  the  work 
of  the  new  creation;  even  as  Almighty  God  ceased  from 
his.  No  Sabbath  should  pass  without  the  praises  of  our 
rising,  ascending,  interceding  Redeemer  being  sounded  in 
the  church.  It  is  his  own  day,  the  day  of  his  glory,  the 
day  of  his  resting  from  his  labors,  the  day  of  his  "opening 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  all  believers."  The  song  is  al- 
ready prepared  to  our  hands:  "Thou  hast  ascended  u|>  on 
high;  thou  hast  led  captivity  captive,  thou  hast  received 
gifts  for  men,  yea  for  the  rebellious  also,  that  the  Lord 
God  mipht  dwell  amonsf  them."*  We  must  add  to  the 
other  special  duties  of  the  Sabbath,  this  record  of  our  faith 
in  Christ.  We  must  subjoin  to  our  praises  to  God  the 
Father  who  created  us,  the  adoration  of  God  the  Son  who 
redeemed  us.  We  must  make  our  public  confession  of 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  The  Lord's  day  is  the  badge  of 
the  covenant  of  grace.  "He  that  offereth  praise  glori- 
fieth  me,"  saith  the  Lord  by  the  psalmist,  "and  to  him  that 
ordereth  his  conversation  aright,  will  I  show  the  salvation 
of  God. "t 

3.  Nor  should  the  praise  of  the  Holy  Ghost  be  omitted 
amongst  the  especial  blessings  celebrated  on  the  Sabbath. 
The  rest  of  heaven  is,  by  his  grace  and  the  anticipa- 
tions he  vouchsafes,  sealed  to  our  hopes.  This  is  that  eternal 
repose  in  God  which  from  the  record  of  the  first  institution 
in  paradise,  to  the  latest  argument  of  St.  Paul,  has  been 
presented  as  the  final  object  of  the  day  of  rest.  It  typifies, 
sets  forth,  assures  to  every  sincere  believer  the  ultimate 

*  Psalm  Ixviii.  18.  t  Psalm  1.  23. 


164  PRACTICAL     DUTIES 

happiness  at  which  he  aims.  '^There  remaineth"  this 
last  refreshment  and  salvation  "for  the  people  of  God." 
Let  us  look  up  towards  it,  dear  brethren,  in  our  meditations 
and  hopes.  Let  every  Sabbath  prepare  us  for  its  appro- 
priate employment.  Let  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  on  this  day 
was  vouchsafed  to  the  church,  to  be  the  comforter,  teacher, 
guide,  sanctifier,  and  great  Author  of  all  grace  under  the 
New  Testament,  be  adored  and  glorified.  Let  us  implore 
of  him  the  power  to  realize  the  promises  of  redemption,  to 
\ie\y  with  gratitude  the  wonders  of  creation  and  providence, 
and  to  unite  all  with  the  prospects  of  the  rest  of  heaven. 
St.  Augustine  considers  the  Sabbath  as  peculiarly  the  law 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  first  two  commandments  he  looks 
upon  as  relating  to  the  honor  of  God  the  Father;  the  third, 
as  especially  referring  to  God  the  Son,  the  eternal  word, 
whose  name  is  not  to  be  taken  in  vain,  nor  to  be  reduced 
to  the  rank  of  a  mere  creature;  and  the  fourth,  or  sabbati- 
cal precept,  he  refers  to  the  praise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who, 
as  the  author  of  rest  and  peace  in  his  church,  is  peculiarly 
hormred  on  the  day  which  agrees  so  entirely  with  his  own 
office.*  We  enter  not  into  a  defence  critically  of  the  sen- 
timent of  the  holy  Father.  We  seize  the  thought;  and 
glorify  God  the  Spirit  on  the  day  which  is  to  raise  us  by 
his  inspiration  to  the  foretaste  and  pledge  of  our  heavenly 
rest! 

And  now  from  these  considerations  on  the  practical  du- 
ties of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  let  us,  in  applying  the  dis- 
course, 

1.  Remark  the  conviction  which  such  a  discus- 
sion    SHOULD     fix    in    THE    MINDS    OF    THE    IRRELIGIOUS 

AND  UNCONVERTED.  At  what  a  distance  are  they  from 
the  true  spirit  and  temper  of  the  servants  of  God!  They 
dispute  against  the  divine  authority  of  the  Lord's  day. 
They  complain  of  the  various  duties  we  enjoin.  They  de- 
clare the  impossibility  of  rising  up  to  such  a  tone  of  piety. 
They  invent  excuses  for  absence  and  omission.  But  what 
do  they  in  fact  admit  in  all  this,  but  their  want  of  religious 
taste  and  feeling?  What  do  they  avow,  but  the  want  of 
spiritual  judgment,  pleasures,  pursuits.''  The  more  they 
argue  against  the  Sabbath,  the  more  they  condemn  them- 

*  British  Review,  viii.  483. 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  165 

selves.  The  further  they  recede  from  devotional  habits  and 
delights,  the  greater  distance  do  they  place  between  them- 
selves and  God. 

Yes,  let  such  be  induced  to  consider  their  own  ways  and 
turn  to  the  Lord.  Let  them  weigh  the  authority,  and  re- 
member the  duties  of  God's  blessed  day;  and  let  them  seek 
that  fundamental  change  of  heart  which  will  render  the  de- 
votions of  the  day  a  pleasure,  its  duties  a  choice,  its  proper 
exercises  the  spontaneous  overflowing  of  gratitude  and  love. 
Then  would  these  Sabbaths  be  the  jsuNDiN-ae  spirituales, 
the  spiritual  market-days  (to  speak  with  Bishop  Andrews) 
to  their  souls;  then  would  they  be  as  anxious  to  carry  away 
coMMEATUM  ANiM^,  provision  for  the  mind,  for  reforming 
the  will,  for  regulating  the  affection,  for  illuminating  the 
understanding,  as  they  are  careful  to  carry  away  provision 
for  the  body  from  the  markets  whither  they  resort. 

But  what  can  we  say  as  to  the  spiritual  state  of  those 
multitudes,  who  still  continue  to  have  little  or  no  conscience 
about  hallowing  God's  blessed  day?  Where  shall  we  place 
them?  Under  what  class  are  they  to  be  arranged  ?  Where 
is  the  indolent  and  sensual  Sabbath-keeper,  or  rather  Sab- 
bath-violater  to  be  placed,  who  rests  only  as  his  ox,  or  his 
ass,  or  his  cattle?  Where  is  the  pleasure-taking  Sabbath- 
breaker  to  be  arranged?  W^here  the  gluttonous  and  wine- 
bibbing?  Where  the  busy,  mercantile,  or  professional 
Sabbath-breaker,  who  thinks  that  the  hurries  of  his  con- 
cerns excuse  him  from  the  worship  of  God?  Where  is  the 
formalist's  Sabbath,  whose  heart  remains  behind,  when  his 
person  and  his  lips  seem  to  approach  his  Maker  and  Re- 
deemer? And  what  shall  we  say  to  the  infidel's  Sabbath, 
the  scoffer's  Sabbath,  the  debauchee's  Sabbath?  Alas! 
the  heart  turns  sick  at  the  fearful  guilt  of  the  numbers,  who, 
with  knowledge,  and  opportunities,  and  means  of  sanctifying 
the  day  of  grace,  abuse,  neglect,  despise,  violate  it.  Let 
such  awake,  ere  it  be  too  late  to  their  immense  loss,  as  well 
as  to  their  heavy  criminality  before  Almighty  God. 

Shall  God,  my  fellow  sinners,  have  consecrated  a  day 
from  the  creation  of  man,  and  wilt  thou  stand  out  against 
his  gracious  command?  Shall  God  have  republished  his 
will  in  the  fourth  commandment  of  the  decalogue — shall  he 
have  enforced  it  by  all  the  motives  of  his  righteous  author- 
ity—shall he  have  poured  around  it  all  the  milder  glories  of 


166  PBACTIAL    DUTIES 

the  new  covenant,  as  well  as  the  tremendous  judgments  of 
the  old,  and  wilt  thou  not  give  God  his  due?  Wilt  thou 
not  yield  him  the  just  rent  which  he  demands  upon  the  gift 
of  thy  time,  thy  health,  thy  property,  thy  six  days'  labor? 
Wilt  thou  remain  insensible  to  thine  eternal  interest,  thy 
present  and  future  happiness,  the  preparation  thou  needest 
for  death  and  judgment?  O,  consider  thy  ways,  seek  thy 
Savior's  forgiveness,  be  ashamed  and  confounded  for  thy 
past  neglect.  Begin  a  new  life.  Enter  upon  a  new  course. 
Seek  that  holy  taste  and  divine  principle  of  life  which  will 
make  the  Christian  Sabbath  natural,  interesting,  pleasant, 
delightful,  necessary. 

Take  at  least  the  preparatory  steps.  If  you  cannot  en- 
ter into  all  the  engagements  of  the  Sabbath,  enter  into 
some  of  them.  By  degrees  new  and  better  habits  will  be 
formed.  By  degrees  the  whole  compass  of  sabbatical  du- 
ties will  become  easy.  Only  begin  in  the  strength  of  God, 
and  relying  on  the  operations  of  his  grace.  Take  a  view 
first  of  the  great  end  of  the  institution,  the  sanctification 
of  the  soul.  Then  follow  out  the  different  classes  of  du- 
ties which  spring  from  it,  as  branches  from  the  parent 
stock.  Next  seek  for  something  of  the  spiritual  taste  which 
forms  the  Christian  temper.  And  lastly,  let  the  grand 
blessings  of  creation  and  redemption,  and  the  hope  of  hea- 
ven, be  in  some  degree  the  topics  of  your  praise. 

II.  But  may  we  not,  all  of  us,  Christian  brethren,  dis- 
cover TOPICS  ENOUGH  OF  HUMILIATION  in  the  discussion 
which  has  taken  place?  Which  of  us  discharges  the  du- 
ties of  the  holy  day  of  God  as  we  should?  In  fact,  the 
Sabbath  is  so  closely  connected  with  Christianity  itself, 
that  as  our  Christianity  rises  or  falls,  so  will  our  observa- 
tion of  the  sacred  season  be  elevated,  or  decline.  Nothing 
is  more  difficult,  considering  our  corruption  and  the  snares 
of  Satan,  than  a  holy,  wise,  kind,  and  yet  resolute  gov- 
ernment of  ourselves  and  families  on  the  Lord's  day. 
All  possible  hindrances  arise  to  oppose  this  duty.  Espec- 
ially in  the  management  of  our  children  and  household,  we 
meet  continual  obstacles  to  our  best  purposes.  One  remark, 
however,  may  be  offered  on  the  other  side.  We  must  pre- 
serve the  amiable  spirit  of  our  Savior,  and  the  gentle  tem- 
per of  his  religion  in  our  domestic  arrangements.  Few 
things  are  more  important  than  to  make  the  Sunday  agree- 


OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    SABBATH.  167 

able,  in  a  proper  sense  of  the  terra,  to  young  persons  and 
servants.  If  any  thing  morose  and  rigid  is  apparent  in 
our  manner,  to  those  placed  under  our  care,  it  will  inevitably 
create  disgust  and  aversion.  And  yet  remissness,  negli- 
gence, cowardice  must  not  creep  in.  The  wise  balancing 
of  these  things,  then,  will  require  much  consideration  and 
prayer.  Variety  may  be  thrown  into  the  duties,  so  as  to 
interest  the  young  mind,  without  lessening  in  the  least 
their  general  efifect.  The  reading  of  the  Scripture — the 
writing  or  finding  texts  upon  a  given  subject — the  learning 
of  hymns — catechising — the  family  devotions  of  the  morn- 
ing and  evening — the  public  worship  of  God  afford  suffi- 
cient diversity,  excite  attention  and  dissipate  lassitude. 
Much  wisdom  must,  however,  be  employed,  kindness  of 
manner,  consideration  of  age,  health,  circumstances.  There 
should  ever  be  a  due  admixture  of  firmness  with  benignity 
— all  supported  by  an  uniform  example,  and  ^accompanied 
with  fervent  prayer. 

Indeed  prayer,  especially  for  larger  measures  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  is  indispensable  to  the  right  discharge  of  these 
important  duties.  If  we  can  do  nothing  aright  without 
prayer,  much  less  can  we  'sustain  a  course  of  obedience, 
with  love  and  delight,  in  the  consecration  of  the  Sabbath, 
without  the  continual  supplies  of  grace  and  strength.  But 
these  supplies  will  not  be  refused  to  us.  Our  defects  will 
be  forgiven  us  through  the  blood  of  Christ,  our  infirmities 
succoured  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Thus  will  our 
Sabaths  pour  into  our  hearts  the  consolation  of  the  prom- 
ises, and  will  at  length  terminate  in  God  himself  who  first 
instituted  the  day  and  is  its  highest  consummation  and  end. 


SERMO^f  VI. 


THE  UNSPEAKABLE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  RIGHT  OB- 
SERVATION  OF  THE  SABBATH,  WITH  THE  EVILS  OF 
THE  OPPOSITE  ABUSE. 


Isaiah  Iviii.   1,  2. 

Cry  aloudy  spare  not,  lift  up  thy  voice  like  a  trumpet, 
and  shew  my  people  their  transgressions,  and  the  house 
of  Jacob  their  sins.  Yet  they  seek  me  daily,  and 
delight  to  knoio  my  ivays,  as  a  nation  that  did 
Hghteously  and  forsook  not  the  ordinances  of  their  God; 
they  ask  of  me  the  ordinances  of  justice,  they  take  de- 
light in  approaching  to  God. 

Doctrine  is  not  enough,  precept  is  not  enough,  on  such  a 
subject  as  that  which  we  have  been  treating.  We  must 
address  the  conscience;  we  must  be  bold  in  our  appeals  to 
the  heart  of  man — we  must  assert  all  the  authority  and 
majesty  of  truth.  The  minister  of  religion  must  not  shrink 
from  his  task  on  such  a  question;  he  must  "cry  aloud,  and 
spare  not;  he  must  show"  the  people  of  God  "their  trans- 
gressions, and  the  house  of  Jacob,"  the  professed  church  of 
Christ,  "their  sins."  He  must  penetrate  the  thin  dis- 
guises which  a  false  religion  assumes,  and  tear  off  the 
mask  which  a  pretence  of  "seeking  God  and  of  delighting 
in  his  ways"  may  present:  and  must  declare  that  the  exter- 
nal advantages  and  opportunities  of  religion  only  increase 
the  guilt  of  the  nation  which  tramples  on  that  very  day, 
when  all  these  benefits  would  have  their  best  effect. 


OBSERVATION    OF    THE    SABBATH.  169 

We  proceed,  therefore,  to  set  before  you  the  unspeak- 
able   IMPORTANCE    OF    A     RIGHT     OBSERVATION     OF     THE 

Lord's  day,  with  the  evils  of  the  opposite  abuse 
— a  subject  difficult  to  treat  from  its  very  magnitude,  from 
the  multitude  of  topics  which  it  embraces,  and  from  the  lit- 
tle perception  men  in  general  have  of  the  sin  of  neglecting 
a»d  dishonoring  God's  most  ancient  institution. 

For  this  may  be  premised;  that  the  corruption  of  man, 
which  resists  generally  all  the  great  doctrines  and  duties  of 
Christianity,  may  be  expected  to  press  veith  peculiar  vio- 
lence against  a  barrier,  which,  like  the  Lord's  day,  is  rais- 
ed against  the  whole  current  of  that  corruption. 

Nor  is  it  unimportant  to  add,  that  an  institution  like 
this,  which  takes  men  off  from  their  ordinary  pursuits  and 
gives  them  an  interval  for  religious  rest  and  public  worship 
of  Almighty  God,  must,  if  abused,  become,  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  a  source  of  unnumbered  vices  and  dis- 
orders; must  draw  into  itself  torrents  of  those  particular 
evils,  which  are  ever  ready  to  accumulate,  as  in  a  common 
receptacle,  where  space  is  given.  There  is  no  middle 
state  here — the  influence  of  the  Sabbath  for  good  or  for 
evil  upon  nations,  churches,  families,  individuals,  is  incal- 
culable. It  is  meant  to  be  the  best  and  holiest  day  of  the 
week;  but,  if  perverted,  it  becomes  the  worst  and  most  de- 
structive. 

But  how  shall  we  impress  you  most  deeply  with  this  sub- 
ject.'' Shall  we  show  you  that  a  due  regard  to  the  institu- 
tion by  a  Christian  nation  is  of  the  nature  of  a  sacred  com- 
pact? That  it  is  essential  to  man's  temporal  and  spiritual 
welfare,  as  a  fallen  but  accountable  creature?  That  it 
includes  all  the  application  of  the  Christian  religion,  and, 
in  fact,  its  preservation  in  the  world?  That  it  binds  to- 
gether all  the  links  and  obligations  of  civil  society?  That 
it  immediately  respects  the  authority  and  honor  of  Almighty 
God,  and  his  favor  and  blessing  upon  a  people? — And  that, 
of  course,  the  opposite  abuse  overturns  every  one  of  these 
things,  and  brings  on  the  contrary  evils? 

May  God  assist  us  by  the  influences  of  his  Spirit;  that, 
having  no  end  in  view  but  his  glory,  and  depending  for  suc- 
cess on  no  power  but  his  own;  we  may  direct  our  inquiries 
with  simplicity,  and  obey  the  dictates  of  truth  with  unre- 
served courage  and  joy! 
15 


170  IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    RIGHT 

I.  For  what,  in  fact,  is  the  observation  of  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  but  a  most  sacred  compact;  and  what  the 
abuse  of  it  but  the  violation  of  that  compact?  It  is  obvi- 
ous, that  it  can  only  he  by  the  very  general  and  almost 
universal  agreement  of  a  nation,  that  secular  affairs  can 
be  suspended,  business  stopped,  public  recreation  and  amuse- 
ments forbidden,  offices  and  establishments  closed,  the  min- 
isters of  religion  furnished  with  protection  in  the  discharge 
of  their  duties,  the  interruptions  of  open  profligacy  prevent- 
ed. Christian  assemblies  authorized,  churches  erected  for 
their  use — in  short,  the  whole  frame-work  of  the  public 
worship  of  God  set  up  and  continued.  Laws  are  the  ex- 
pression of  public  opinion — and  go  a  certain  length,  both 
negatively  in  the  repression  of  open  insults  on  Christianity, 
and  positively  in  sustaining  and  supporting  the  ministers 
and  officers  of  the  sanctuary.  But  all  the  real  operation 
and  success  of  such  a  system  rests  upon  the  compact  and 
covenant  of  a  Christian  people  one  with  another,  and  with 
their  gracious  God  and  Savior. 

The  scattered  converts  of  the  first  Christian  churches 
could  only  celebrate  their  Sabbaths  in  early  darkness,  or 
the  unobserved  hours  of  the  night:  persecution  hung  over 
their  meetings — they  were  happy  if  they  were  not  dragged 
to  the  idol's  temple  and  urged  to  join  in  the  idol  worship. 
This  is  one  reason  probably,  why  the  apostles  less  fre- 
quently dwell  upon  the  express  duties  of  the  Lord's  day  in 
the  New  Testament;  leaving  it  rather  to  the  consciences 
of  their  converts  and  the  universal  conviction  that  a  Sab- 
bath was  of  perpetual  moral  obligation,  to  fill  up  the  detail. 
The  condition  of  domestic  slavery,  in  which  most  of  the 
Gentile  converts  were,  would  tend  to  increase  the  apostles' 
tenderness  on  the  point.  Still  the  first  Christians  kept 
holy  the  Lord's  day,  the  badge  of  their  redemption,  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power.  When  Christianity  triumphed 
over  emperors  and  kings  and  statesmen  and  magistrates  by 
the  mild  influence  of  the  truth,  things  were  changed.  The 
holy  day  of  weekly  rest  succeeded  the  festivals  of  the  hea- 
then worship.  "\Vhen  England  was  converted  in  the  course 
of  the  divine  mercy,  her  Heathen  rites,  her  druidical  or- 
gies, her  savage  customs,  her  brutal  and  idolatrous  sacri- 
fices, were  cast  away — and  the  love  of  God,  the  preaching  of 
the  blessed  gospel,  the  singing  praises  to  Christ,  the  celebra- 


OBSERVATION  OF  THE  SABBATH.       171 

tion  of  the  mysteries  of  his  death,  and  the  observation  of  the 
hallowed  day  on  which  ail  these  were  to  be  performed,  suc- 
ceeded to  them.     Christian   legislators  in   our  own,  as  in 
other  countries,  arose  to   do   what  they  could  in   guarding 
the  new  institutions.      They  continued   thus  to   act.      But 
still  upon  the  consciences   of  individuals  has   ever  rested, 
and  must  rest,  the  real  and   effectual   obligation.     The  in- 
habitants of  the  nation,  having   submitted   to   the  yoke  of 
the  gospel,  assumed  its  profession  in  the  celebration  of  one 
day  of  religious  joy.     The  covenant  was  signed  and  sealed, 
as  it  were,  in  this  visible  acknowledgment  of  the  Christian 
faith;  but  the  spirit  and  conduct  of  individuals  and  families 
fill  up  the  conditions  of  it.     Thus  it  is  a  compact.     If  de- 
vout care  of  children  and  servants,  abstinence  from  ordinary 
duties  and  cheerful  attendance  upon  the  public  and  private 
offices  of  religion,  mark  the  households  of  our  towns  and 
cities,  the  compact  is  fulfilled.    If  carelessness,  indifference, 
non-attendance,  creep   in  upon  the  general  body,  the  com- 
pact is  violated.     It  may  remain,  indeed,  in  its  form — the 
external  law  may  be  unabrogated — the  churches  may  stand 
as  before — the  ministers  of  religion  may  retain  their  office, 
— but  the  compact  is  made  void.     The  Christian  obligation 
is  virtually  abjured.     If  the   evil  goes   on,  every  outward 
order  and  regulation  will  be  by  degrees  weakened,  evaded, 
contemned,  and  the  Sabbath  will  be  no  more. 

I  ask,  then,  whether,  in  this  view,  the  importance  of  the 
due  observance  of  the  Lord's  day  is  not  immense?  It  is 
the  fulfilment  of  a  compact.  Every  act  of  violation  tends 
to  undermine  the  whole  frame-work.  Every  wilful  breach 
has  the  guilt  of  breaking  down  the  universal  consent,  of 
beginning  a  destructive  habit,  of  infecting  the  entire  com- 
munity. The  good  example,  the  influence,  the  devout  con- 
duct of  each  family,  each  person,  goes  to  sustain  the  gen- 
eral duty,  to  make  the  covenant  valid,  to  enable  others  to 
consecrate  the  day. 

The  place,  then,  which  each  separate  action  fills,  is  like 
a  stone  in  an  arch,  important,  not  only  as  to  its  isolated 
magnitude,  but  from  its  position,  its  coherence  with  the 
other  parts,  its  necessity  to  the  firmness  and  solidity  of  the 
whole  structure. 

Look  in  this  view  at  all  the  separate  acts  of  all  the  care- 
Jess,  the  profane,  the  covetous,  the  unbelieving  amongst  our 


172  IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    RIGHT 

population — see  their  Sabbaths — estimate  the  evil  donCj 
not  by  the  independent  acts,  but  by  the  fearful  influence, 
by  the  covenant  broken,  the  stipulation  trodden  under  foot, 
the  engagements  rendered  difficult  to  others,  impossible  to 
themselves.  Let  no  one  say,  ^'I  am  but  an  individual,'* 
— for  the  nation  is  made  up  of  individuals.  Let  no  one 
say,  ^'A  single  act  can  be  of  small  evil," — for  the  observ- 
ance of  a  national  Sabbath  is  composed  of  single  acts. 
Let  no  one  pretend,  ''The  stream  and  current  of  religious 
duty  cannot  be  stopped  by  my  particular  resistance;"  for 
the  whole  tide  is  constituted  and  impelled  by  the  aggrega- 
tion of  unnumbered  minute  elements;  and  every  obstacle 
retards  the  flow. 

IL  But  estimate,  in  the  next  place,  if  you  can,  the  im- 
portance of  the  universal  observation  of  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, from  its  bearings  upon  man's  temporal  and  spir- 
itual WELFARE,  AS  A  FALLEN  BUT  ACCOUNTABLE  CREA- 
TURE. For  is  man,  or  is  he  not,  an  immortal  being.''  Has 
he,  or  has  he  not,  a  soul  allied  to  God,  capable  of  knowing, 
destined  to  serve  him,  and  utterly  void  of  real  happiness, 
till  it  be  found  in  him.'*  Has  he,  or  has  he  not,  received  a 
revelation  from  Almighty  God,  according  to  which  he  will 
be  judged  at  the  last  day.^  Then,  what  is  man's  truest 
interest,  what  his  essential  duty,  what  his  first  and  noblest 
object.''  And  what  is  the  great  hindrance  to  his  real  wel- 
fare— to  his  attention  to  his  religious  convictions?  Is  it 
cot  the  pressure  of  earthly  things,  the  undue  magnitude 
and  importance  which,  from  their  proximity,  they  assume? 
Is  it  not  the  want  of  leisure  for  reflection,  the  want  of  a 
realising  apprehension  of  the  truth  of  unseen  objects?  Then 
the  Sabbath  gives  all  this  leisure,  calls  man  off  from  all  this 
turmoil,  interposes  a  day  of  repose,  of  recollection,  of  dis- 
tinct time  for  the  care  of  his  soul  and  the  worship  of  God. 
The  Sabbath  raises  the  standard  of  his  moral  feelings, 
brings  him  to  act  upon  his  higher  nature,  his  mind,  his  ra- 
tional part,  his  responsibility  to  an  eternal  Judge.  The 
necessities  of  the  body  chiefly  occupy  the  six  days;  the  im- 
mortal destiny  of  man  and  his  ultimate  vocation  by  the  gos- 
pel, claim  the  seventh.  Nothing  more  tends  to  improve  all 
the  faculties,  to  quicken  the  practical  judgment,  to  mature 
and  invigorate  the  powers  of  the  mind,  to  enlarge  the 
sphere  and  multiply  the  sources  of  intellectual  pleasure,  to 


OBSERVATION  OF  THE  SABBATH.       173 

open  the  widest  avenues  to  happiness,  to  unite  man  with 
his  true  end,  than  the  care  of  the  soul  and  the  celebration 
of  the  divine  worship. 

What  a  sight  for  angels  is  the  assembly  of  all  the  in- 
habitants of  a  nation,  in  its  various  subdivisions,  before  the 
Almighty  God — confessing  their  sins,  acknowledging  his 
goodness,  celebrating  his  praises,  hearing  his  word,  partak- 
ing of  his  mysteries.  Creation,  redemption,  heaven  brought, 
after  an  interval  of  six  days'  toil  and  secularity,  full  be- 
fore their  view,  and  elevating  and  attracting  the  heart  of  a 
wayward,  perverse,  but  noble  race! 

It  is  to  be  further  borne  in  mind,  that  man  is  fallen,  cor- 
rupted, propense  to  the  external  objects  which  surround 
him — that  the  Lord's  day  is  not  merely  the  day  of  religious 
duty  and  rest,  but  the  restoring,  the  awakening  day — the 
day  of  recovery  and  reformation.  It  tends  to  bring  man 
back  to  recollection,  to  seriousness,  to  penitence,  to  prayer. 
If  the  Sabbath  be  desecrated,  his  original  disease  gains 
ground,  his  convalescence,  only  incipient  and  doubtful,  is 
suspended,  and  his  whole  spiritual  prosperity  and  existence 
are  endangered.  It  is  not  of  Adam  uncorrupted  that  we 
speak,  but  of  Adam's  race,  sunk  in  selfishness  and  flesh, 
with  only  faint  remains  of  moral  feeling,  and  far  from  God 
and  godliness.  Nor  is  it  of  the  devout  and  fervent  part  of 
the  professed  Christian  world,  or  of  the  Protestant  Chris- 
tian world  in  any  form,  that  we  exclusively  speak;  it  is  for 
the  family  of  man  scattered  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  lost 
in  heathenism  and  infidelity,  that  we  would  reserve  the  Sab- 
bath; it  is  for  Pagans  and  Mahometans,  for  the  members 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  and  Greek  churches,  that  we  plead. 
We  would  exhibit  to  them  the  holy  Sabbath  in  the  exam- 
ple of  the  purer  Christian  bodies,  to  draw  their  attention, 
to  mark  the  reality  of  our  religion,  to  provide  them  informa- 
tion upon  its  nature  and  duties.  How  is  a  wandering, 
fallen,  and  depraved  world  to  be  recalled  to  God,  without 
that  day  which  celebrates  the  works  and  word  and  grace  of 
God — that  day  which  recognizes  his  authority  over  man — 
that  day  which  proclaims  his  intellectual  and  accountable 
nature,  his  future,  his  eternal  hopes?  The  Sabbath  inter- 
poses a  space  between  total  irreligion  and  the  conscience 
of  man;  it  puts  in  the  claims  of  God  upon  the  human  heart. 
*15 


174  IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    RIGHT 

Nor  is  the  temporal  welfare  of  mankind  less  concerned 
than  their  spiritual,  in  the  observation  of  the  Lord's  day, 
Man  was  created  for  six  days'  work,  not  for  seven:  his  fac- 
ulties cannot  bear  an  unremitted  strain.  Children  and 
servants,  and  the  laboring-  classes  of  mankind,  (by  far  the 
more  numerous,  and  the  most  liable  to  be  oppressed,)  re- 
quire what  this  institution  gives — a  day  of  repose,  of  refresh- 
ment, of  religious  recollection  and  peace.  The  whole  world 
rests  and  is  still,  that  God  may  speak,  that  conscience  may 
resume  her  sway,  that  the  exhausted  body  and  mind  may 
recruit  their  powers,  and  be  fitted  for  a  more  vigorous  effort. 
The  utmost  productive  labor  of  man,  is  in  the  proportion  of 
rest  and  exertion,  ordained  by  his  merciful  Creator.  The 
best  prevention  of  disease  is  in  the  same  provision.  The 
prolongation  of  human  life  depends  on  the  like  alternation 
of  toil  and  repose.  The  springs  of  pleasure  are  thus  aug- 
mented and  purified.  The  satiety,  the  sameness,  the  wea- 
riness, the  uniformity  of  human  life  is  broken;  and  a  blessed^ 
hallowed  period  for  religion  is  interposed.  The  interval 
between  these  seasons  is  neither  so  distant  as  to  be  ineffec- 
tual to  its  end,  nor  so  near  as  to  injure  the  real  interests  of 
our  worldly  callings — but,  like  every  thing  else  in  God's 
revelation,  unites  the  prosperity  of  the  soul  with  the  high- 
est welfare  of  the  body  and  concerns  of  man. 

How  great,  then,  is  the  importance  of  every  one^s  fall- 
ing in  with  the  designs  of  this  institution!  Can  any  one 
estimate  adequately  the  soul,  eternity,  heaven  and  hell, 
God,  Christ;  salvation,  pardon,  hope,  happiness — the  whole 
intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  welfare  of  man,  formed 
after  his  Creator's  image,  fallen  from  it  by  sin,  called  to 
the  renovation  of  it  by  the  blessings  and  duties  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath! 

Look  at  the  evils  of  the  contrary  abuse.  See  man  sunk 
from  his  real  honors  into  the  rank  of  the  brute;  see  him  lost 
in  appetite,  vice,  lust,  pride,  carelessness;  with  nothing  to 
redeem,  nothing  to  call  him  back,  nothing  to  restore;  the 
Spirit  of  God  departed  from  him ;  a  reprobate  sense  possessing 
and  weighing  down  his  soul.  The  main  difference  between 
heathen  and  Christian  nations  is  the  recurrence  of  a  Sab- 
bath, and  of  what  follows  upon  it.  The  violation  of  this 
day  in  Christian  countries,  is  the  brand  upon  the  forehead 
of  nominal  religion.     See  the  Sabbath-breaker  opening  his 


OBSERVATION    OF    THE    SABBATH.  175 

shop,  writing  his  letters,  preparing  his  accounts:  see  him 
entering  his  office;  see  him  imposing  upon  his  servants,  his 
clerks,  his  dependants,  the  yoke  of  unpermitted  and  unholy 
labor.  Observe  him  in  languid  carelessness,  idling  away 
the  morning  hours,  and  disgracing,  by  excess  and  worldly 
company,  the  evening.  Notice  the  effect  upon  his  own 
mind  and  habits.  He  boasts  of  his  liberty,  his  freedom 
from  superstitious  fears,  his  superiority  to  ordinary  preju- 
dices. But  he  is  the  slave  of  covetousness,  of  pride,  of 
appetite.  The  violation  of  the  Sabbath  draws  with  it  the 
neglect  of  all  other  religious  duties — prayer,  family  relig- 
ion, reading  of  the  Scriptures.  Misery  follows  in  the  train. 
In  vain  he  blusters,  and  protests  and  affects  independence: 
the  moral  judgments  of  the  Almighty  overtake  him — the 
selfish,  earthly  creature,  vegetating  rather  than  living,  is  lost 
in  shifting  speculations;  diffuses  mischief  all  around;  neglects 
and  corrupts  his  children  and  servants;  has  no  corrective 
to  his  jealous  and  irritated  temper,  no  cordial  to  his  droop- 
ing spirits,  no  prospects  to  enliven  the  future,  no  friend,  no 
Savior  to  relieve  him  as  to  the  past.  The  Sunday  jour- 
nal, the  Sunday  festival,  the  Sunday  amusements,  fail  to 
please.  He  sinks  into  lifeless  despondency,  or  frets  with 
infuriated  malice — all  his  noble  capacities  perverted,  be- 
cause his  God  has  been  contemned,  and  the  day  of  religion 
abused. 

And  mark  his  inhumanity  and  want  of  sympathy,  with 
the  feelings  and  miseries  of  his  dependants,  the  poor,  the 
weak,  the  depressed.  He  robs  the  human  family  of  the 
best  boon  of  heaven;  he  compels  them  to  work  when  God 
allowed  them  to  repose;  he  chains  down  in  vice  and  ignor- 
ance three-fourths  of  mankind;  he  raises  a  barrier  against 
the  entrance  of  light,  purity,  salvation;  he  tends  by  his 
example  to  abolish  Christianity,  to  deny  his  God,  to  erect 
the  vain  idol  of  an  imaginary  deity,  and  to  sink  at  last 
into  a  practical  Atheism. 

ni.  But  we  proceed  to  show,  that  the  due  observation 
of  the  Lord's  day  includes  all  the  application  of  the 
CHRISTIAN  religion,  and  in  fact,  its  preservation  in  the 
world;  whilst  the  violation  of  it  goes  to  the  exactly  con- 
trary effect.  For  what  is  the  Christian  religion,  without 
its  means  of  instruction  and  grace?  What  is  Christianity, 
without  the  Bible,  without  the   ministry  of  God's   word, 


176  IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    RIGHT 

without  meditation  and  prayer,  without  the  education  of 
children,  without  the  familiar  communication  of  truth  to  the 
poor  and  ignorant  ?  And  when  and  how  are  these  means  to  be 
put  into  effect,  if  the  day  appointed  for  that  very  purpose 
is  desecrated,  dishonored,  lost?  And  what  is  the  applica- 
tion of  Christianity  by  all  these  methods,  but  the  grand 
point,  the  main  end  of  that  divine  revelation?  It  was 
given  to  be  made  known,  to  be  applied  to  the  conscience  of 
every  human  being.  It  was  given  to  be  an  universal  relig- 
ion. It  was  given,  not  to  be  a  theory  in  the  schools^' of 
philosophy,  but  to  be  a  grand  practical  blessing  to  the 
hearts  and  lives  of  men.  In  this  view,  it  stands  distinct 
from  the  Levitical  dispensation,  and  in  contrast  with  all 
the  idolatries  of  the  heathen  superstitions.  It  is  not  a 
limited  design  of  separating  a  single  family  or  nation;  but 
it  extends  itself  to  the  whole  world — the  partition-wall 
broken  down — the  distinctions  of  tongue,  and  clime,  and 
people,  abolished — the  cere*nonial  observances  swept  away 
— and  all  mankind  the  common  objects  of  religious  care. 
Much  less  is  it  the  confused  and  groundless  theory  of  a 
superstitious  idolatry,  ignorant  of  all  the  principles  of  truth, 
wasting  itself  in  interminable  controversies,  confined  to  the 
schools  of  learning,  as  to  its  real  tenets,  and  leaving  the 
multitude  in  the  gloom  of  a  cruel  and  debasing  bondage. 
No;  Christianity  flows  from  the  Father  of  lights;  it  brings 
plain,  interesting,  all-important  truth  to  man.  It  reveals 
a  scheme  of  infinite  love  for  the  recovery  of  apostate,  sin- 
ful creatures,  in  the  death  of  the  eternal  Son  of  God.  It 
promises  the  divine  and  effectul  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  constitutes  a  sytem  of  means,  in  which  man  is  to  wait 
upon  God,  and  where  God  has  promised  to  communicate 
himself  to  man.  These  means,  simple,  unostentatious, 
easy  to  be  employed,  are  the  great  medium  between  the 
infinite  God  and  his  feeble  creature.  As  the  Substratum 
of  these  methods  of  instruction  is  laid  the  Holy  Sabbath 
— this  gives  the  time,  the  space,  the  monitory  call,  the 
privilege,  the  motive  for  the  employment  of  them. 

There  stands  Christianity — it  speaks  in  the  Bible,  the 
inspired  book  of  God,  ''able  to  make  man  wise  unto  salva- 
tion," which  every  one  is  bound  to  read,  to  search,  to  medi- 
tate upon.  But  when  ?  On  the  day  of  the  Bible,  the  day 
which  the  very  first  history  in  its  pages  institutes  and  hal- 


OBSERVATION  OF  THE  SABBATH.        177 

lows.  Blot  out  the  Sabbath;  you  make  the  regular  and 
deliberate  study  of  the  Scriptures  impossible  to  the  vast 
body  of  mankind. 

Christianity  stands  forth — she  designates  an  order  of 
men  to  preach  her  blessed  tidings — she  institutes  the  min- 
istry of  the  word — she  bids  the  faithful  pastor,  evangelist, 
and  ambassador  of  grace,  go  into  all  the  world,  preach  the 
fall  and  recovery  of  man,  take  out  truth  from  the  written 
volume  and  apply  it  to  the  conscience,  open  it  to  the  under- 
standing, press  it  upon  the  heart  of  man.  There  stands 
the  minister  of  Christ,  "as  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wil- 
derness, Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord."  He  vindicates 
truth,  he  clears  it  from  the  subterfuges  of  human  folly,  he 
sets  forth  its  genuine  importance.  Then  he  convokes  the 
assemblies  of  men,  he  calls  them  to  repentance  and  faith, 
he  forms  them  into  churches;  he  meets  them  for  the  pur- 
pose of  edification,  exhortation,  comfort.  But  when  is  all 
this  to  be  done.^  Who  is  to  form  'the  agreement  for  the 
time  and  place  of  meeting?  What  is  to  oblige,  invite, 
persuade  men.'*  Who  is  to  suspend  the  ordinary  business 
of  life,  and  make  it  possible  for  the  great  body  of  man- 
kind to  assist  at  religious  convocations?  The  Holy 
Christian  Sabbath.  Without  the  Sabbath,  all  is  con- 
fusion, distraction,  defeat.  You  have  no  regular  public 
ministry,  no  time  for  calm  attention  to  the  preaching  of  the 
word,  no  place  for  the  grand  instrument  of  awakening 
souls,  and  building  up  the  Christian  temple. 

But  public  and  private  supplication,  confession,  giving  of 
thanks,  intercession,  are  essential  to  the  application  of 
Christianity.  What  is  religion  without  prayer?  W^here 
is  the  profession  of  the  faith  of  Christ,  without  holy  sup- 
lication,  in  assembled  bodies,  to  seek  the  divine  favor,  to 
honor  the  divine  majesty,  to  avow  our  dependance  on  the 
divine  grace?  How  are  the  blessings  of  revelation  to  be 
obtained,  without  that  humble  suit  and  united  petition,  to 
which  God  has  been  pleased  to  attach  them?  The  Sab- 
bath abolished,  neglected,  dishonored;  prayer  is  blotted 
out  from  the  earth;  Christianity  is  paralysed;  the  humility 
of  heart  which  distinguishes  the  faith  of  the  Bible  from  all 
other  creeds,  is  no  more.  For  it  is  the  day  of  rest  which 
gives  time  for  prayer,  which  calls  to  public  and  private  and 


178  IMPORTANCE    OF     THE    RIGHT 

domestic  devotion,  which  shuts   out  the  world,  and  brings 
man  before  the  presence  of  his  God. 

And  when,  again,  are  the  blessed  sacraments  of  Christ's 
religion  to  be  administered,  if  the  Christian  Sabbath  be 
obliterated,  which  is  destined  for  the  celebration  of  them, 
and  without  which  they  can  never  be  decently  and  devoutly 
attended?  These  are  the  external  symbols  and  pledges  of 
the  redeeming  blood  and  sanctifying  Spirit  of  our  Lord. 
They  are  the  peculiar  channels  and  means  of  grace.  They 
follow  the  Bible,  the  ministry  of  the  word,  prayer.  They 
are  the  bond  of  communion  between  Christians  and  their 
divine  Head.  They  constitute  a  grand  branch  of  the  pro- 
fession of  the  Christian  religion.  But  they  stand  upon  the 
platform  of  the  Sabbath,  and  expire  with  its  fall. 

And  what  will  become  of  the  education  of  children,  and 
the  familiar  communication  of  truth  to  the  vast  body  of  the 
poor  and  ignorant,  without  a  time  and  space  for  those  du- 
ties, banked  in  from  the  wild  waste  of  worldly  cares? 
Look  at  your  Sunday  schools,  your  infant  schools,  your 
adult  schools,  your  catechetical  lectures,  your  books  and 
tracts  for  the  young  and  the  poorer  classes.  Look  at  the 
open  spot  left  by  the  Sabbath  for  the  erection  of  this  spirit- 
ual machinery,  and  its  easy  operation  and  blessed  fruits. 
Abolish  the  Lord's  day,  and  you  abolish  the  education  of 
the  population,  the  inculcation  of  primary  truth,  the  diffu- 
sion of  religious  knowledge,  the  amelioration  and  safe  eleva- 
tion in  the  scale  of  intellectual  and  moral  being,  of  the  very 
classes  for  whom  the  Savior  came,  to  whom  he  declared 
his  gospel  to  be  best  adapted,  and  whose  welfare,  temporal 
and  spiritual,  he  especially  consulted. 

Consider,  then,  the  unspeakable  obligation  of  the  Sab- 
bath. On  the  means  enumerated  no  one  will  dispute  that 
the  application  of  Christianity  depends — to  those  means 
God  promises  his  blessing — in  and  by  these  means  the 
Holy  Spirit  works.  We  do  not  speak  too  strongly  when 
we  assert  that  the  efficacy  of  our  divine  religion — its  holy 
influences — its  transforming,  renovating  power,  very  much 
depends  on  this  one  single  point,  the  sanctification  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath.  Every  act  of  profanation  of  its  holy 
duties,  every  argument  levelled  against  its  authority,  every 
example  of  a  careless,  irreligious  family,  neglecting  its 
claims,  goes  to  undo  or  prevent  the  healing  virtues  of  Chris- 


OBSERVATION  OF  THE  SABBATH.       179 

tianity — it  goes  to   turn  religion   from  a  practical,  holy, 
blessed  principle,  into  a  form,  a  name,  a  pretence. 

And  this  it  becomes,  as  the  abuse  of  the  day  of  God 
prevails.  The  ground  on  which  we  press  the  immense  im- 
portance of  the  Sabbath,  is  from  the  evils  which  the  viola- 
tion of  it  occasions.  Sabbath-breaking  not  only  annuls  the 
sacred  compact  of  Christian  nations,  not  only  opposes  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  welfare  of  man,  as  a  feeble  but  ac- 
countable being;  but  prevents  all  the  application  of  Chris- 
tianity in  its  blessings  to  the  human  heart.  The  separate 
instances  of  infringing  the  law  of  the  Sabbath,  may  appear 
of  little  moment.  We  see  not  the  interior  process  of  the 
evil — the  outward  garb  of  decent  morals  is  not  at  once 
thrown  off.  But  look  at  the  sure  result.  What  is  the 
Sabbatli-breaker  about?  Is  he  reading  his  Bible? — He 
never  opens  that  book  which  condemns  his  sin.  Does  he 
attend  the  ministry  of  God's  word? — He  dislikes  more  and 
more  its  admonitions,  its  calls  to  repentance.  As  his  vio- 
lation of  the  Sabbath  increases,  his  disposition  to  attend 
the  public  preaching  of  the  gospel  lessens,  his  resolutions  of 
returning  to  it  become  weaker,  his  regard  for  Christianity 
itself  gradually  expires.  Does  he  join  in  public  or  domes- 
tic prayer? — Alas!  he  has  left  off  the  devout  practice  since 
the  Sabbath  has  been  broken.  When  he  began  the  occa- 
sional neglect,  first  of  a  part,  and  then  of  the  whole  of  that 
sacred  day,  prayer  was  not  altogether  forgotten.  Some 
private  devotions  lingered  amongst  his  habits — education 
and  conscience  had  not  wholly  lost  their  force.  But  the 
evil  acquired  strength.  The  Sunday  was  first  wearisome, 
then  disgusting,  then  perverted  to  occasional,  and  lastly  to 
continued,  indulgences  of  a  secular  kind — and  with  this, 
prayer  was  renounced,  forgotten.  And  what  has  the  Sab- 
bath-breaker to  do  with  the  sacrament,  or  with  the  religious 
education  of  the  young,  and  the  poor  and  ignorant?  He 
may  promote  the  pride  of  intellectual  knowledge,  he  may 
diflfuse  a  literature  tinged  with  infidelity,  he  may  nourish 
the  daring  spirit  of  inquiry  which  a  false  philosophy  pro- 
claims; but  the  solid,  religious,  useful  education  of  the 
young  and  ignorant  in  their  immortal  destinies,  in  their  ac- 
countableness  to  God,  in  their  duties  to  their  Creator,  Re- 
deemer, Sanctifier,  he  utterly  neglects  and  opposes.  In 
short,  if  the  real  want  of  religious  character  in  the  violator 


180  IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    RIGHT 

of  God's  holy  day  could  be  estimated,  it  would  be  found  to 
be  just  in  the  proportion  as  that  institution  was  forsaken. 

Nor  is  it  too  much  to  say,  startling  as  it  may  sound  in 
tsome  ears,  that  the  existence  of  Christianity  in  the  world 
iiepends  upon  the  observation  of  the  Sabbath.  Let  this 
visible  pledge  of  allegiance  be  withdrawn,  let  this  sacred 
time  be  filled  up  by  the  cares  and  follies  of  the  world,  let 
public  prayer  and  sacraments,  public  preaching  of  God's 
word  and  instruction  of  the  ignorant  be  neglected  and  vir- 
tually renounced — and  where  is  Christianity,  where  its  hold 
upon  man,  where  its  means  of  operation,  where  its  healing 
influence,  where  its  application  to  the  heart?  Yes;  God 
has  bound  every  thing  together.  In  appointing  a  Sabbath, 
he  has  not  instituted  a  useless,  secondary,  non-essential 
rite.  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man — for  such  a 
creature  as  he  is — in  such  a  system  of  means,  and  with 
such  a  revelation  as  Christianity  proposes  to  him.  The 
same  God  that  knew  what  was  in  that  Revelation,  and 
what  was  also  in  man,  ordained  the  holy  Sabbath  as  the 
accompanying  means  of  the  whole  scheme  of  redemption — 
as  the  field  in  which  all  its  blessings  might  be  sown — as  the 
scaffolding,  by  the  aid  of  which  all  the  building  might  be 
erected.  The  institution  is  nothing  indeed  if  left  in  theory, 
nothing  if  abused  to  wrong  ends,  nothing  if  relied  on  with 
pride,  or  frittered  away  by  superstition;  but  every  thing  if 
used  for  its  proper  purposes,  every  thing  if  practically  em- 
ployed, every  thing  if  animated  and  blessed  with  the  pres- 
ence and  power  of  God.     But  this  is  not  all. 

IV.  So  important  is  the  Lord's  day,  that  it  connects 
and  holds  together  all  the  links  and  obligations  of 
HUMAN  SOCIETY,  which  the  violation  of  it  tends  to  de- 
stroy. Government  cannot  subsist  without  religion. — 
The  institution  which  sustains  Christianity,  sustains  those 
duties  and  habits,  those  virtues  of  the  heart,  that  mildness 
and  humanity,  that  regard  to  truth  and  the  sanctity  of  an 
oath,  that  sense  of  conscience  and  prospect  of  the  tribunal 
of  Christ,  which  strengthens  human  authority,  preserves 
the  peace  of  communities  and  nations,  and  is  the  bond  of 
human  society.  The  Sabbath  recals  all  these  great  princi- 
ples, impresses  them  anew  when  effaced,  urges  them  when 
neglected,  deepens  them  more  and  more,  and  preserves 
them  in  activity  upon  the  heart.     If  the  Sabbath  be  lost, 


OBSERVATION  OF  THE  SABBATH.       181 

man  is  selfish,  proud,  discontented,  disloyal,  turbulent.  His 
conscience  becomes  hardened,  his  passions  restless,  his 
submission  to  human  authority  reluctant.  If  the  Sabbath 
be  duly  observed,  God  governs  the  moral  and  intellectual 
being,  the  law  of  God  sustains  the  just  rule  of  man,  the 
grace  and  mercy  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  attract  the  weary 
sinner,  (he  obligations  of  conscience  are  vigorous  and  effec- 
tual, peace  reigns  within  the  breast,  and  willing  subjection 
to  authority  as  the  ordinance  of  God,  follows.  Civil  soci- 
ety is  contained  and  held  together  by  the  Sabbath:  which 
gives  firmness  and  consistency  to  all  the  intercourse  of  man 
with  man,  to  all  the  engagements  which  cement  honorable 
commerce  and  the  affairs  of  a  peaceful  agriculture,  to  all 
the  current  opinions  and  feelings  which  form  the  standard 
of  morals. 

The  law  of  the  Sabbath  also  unites  all  the  classes  of 
men  one  with  another,  by  teaching  them  their  common  ori- 
gin, their  common  guilt,  their  common  mercies,  their  com- 
mon duties.  It  places  them  before  an  Almighty  Judge, 
and  shrivels  into  insignificance  the  petty  distinctions  of  rank 
and  wealth,  in  the  view  of  the  eternal  and  all-glorious  Po- 
tentate. To  meet  in  one  common  temple,  before  one  com- 
mon Savior,  to  supplicate  one  and  the  same  salvation,  sheds 
a  humanizing,  softening  influence,  gives  a  common  sympa- 
thy, excites  the  feelings  of  brotherhood  and  intercommunity. 

The  Sabbath  tends  to  humble  man,  and  thus  dispose  hira 
to  all  the  duties  of  social  and  public  life.  The  obstacles  it 
removes.  The  pride  and  self-sufficiency  of  man  it  abates. 
It  lays  the  foundation  of  lowliness,  suavity  of  temper,  for- 
giveness of  injuries.  It  promotes  a  courteous,  obliging  car- 
riage. "The  rich  and  the  poor  meet  together,  the  Lord  is 
the  maker  of  them  all."  The  Sabbath  annihilates  human 
vanity,  teaches  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  exalts 
those  of  low  degree.  The  Sabbath  humanizes  man  by  the 
very  neatness  and  cleanliness  and  frugality  which  it  diffuses. 
Its  good  order,  decency,  and  comfort,  elevate  the  moral 
character.  Its  mildness  and  calmness  of  devotion  engender 
self-respect,  in  a  proper  sense  of  the  word.  Its  doctrines 
and  duties  and  sacraments  and  prayers  subdue  the  ruder 
feelings,  awaken  the  humane  and  tender  associations,  expel 
the  ruflSan-passions,  relieve  the  servant,  the  child,  the  de- 
16 


182  IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    RIGHT 

pendant,  from  the  oppression  of  the  austere  master,  and 
compose  and  mollify  the  intercourse  of  the  world. 

Take  the  opposite  abuses,  and  tell  me  what  vices  and 
outrages  are  not  committed  upon  the  Sabbath,  when  it  is 
dishonored  and  violated.  Of  those  who  are  executed  as 
victims  to  the  infraction  of  the  laws  of  their  country,  the 
greater  part  date  their  ruin  from  the  flagrant  breaches  of 
this  sacred  day.  Of  the  hideous  and  fearful  sins  of  impu- 
rity and  licentiousness,  the  Sabbath  is  the  season.  Of  the 
degrading  habits  of  drunkenness,  the  Sabbath  is  the  period, 
the  spot,  the'  occasion.  Schemes  of  rapine  and  dishonesty, 
are  almost  all  planned  in  the  abused  hours  of  the  Lord's 
day.  The  first  steps  are  perhaps  not  discernible.  An 
occasional  neglect  of  the  ordinances  of  religion  brings  no 
instant  profligacy  of  principle.  Society  is  secure.  But  the 
tendency  soon  appears.  The  moral  sense  is  loosened.  The 
fear  of  God,  like  a  barrier,  being  removed,  the  torrent  of 
passion  and  concupiscence  pours  out  of  itself.  The  danger 
is  augmented  from  the  concealed  labyrinths  of  the  process. 
Should  a  loose  companion  say  to  a  sober,  religious  youth, 
on  the  morning  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  "Go  with  me 
to-day,  ruin  your  health,  destroy  your  reputation,  lose  your 
money,  kill  your  aged  parents  with  grief,  be  a  companion 
of  prostitutes,  rob  your  master,  break  the  laws  of  your 
country,  scorn  God,  be  executed  as  a  criminal,  and  plunge 
in  the  lake  which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone" — cer- 
tainly the  undebauched  youth  would  tremble  and  flee.  But 
the  tempter  conceals  all  this;  he  only  says,  "Do  not  go  to 
church  to-day,  spend  the  day  with  me;" — all  the  rest  fol- 
lows of  course: — "the  companion  of  fools  shall  be  destroy- 
ed." The  Sabbath-breaker  is  in  truth  prepared  for  every 
enormity,  and  every  crime.  He  is  a  bold  transgressor;  he 
practically  denies  God's  right  to  be  worshipped,  honored, 
reverenced,  obeyed.  He  says,  God  is  not  an  object  of  ad- 
miration, fear,  gratitude,  love.  He  that  thus  contemns 
God,  has  no  regard  for  man.  Society  is  not  safe  with  him. 
He  may  be  restrained  from  crime  by  selfish  motives;  he  is 
not  restrained  by  conscience  and  religious  ones. 

Cast  an  eye  on  any  one  Lord's  day  in  our  great  towns, 
and  especially  in  our  metropolis.  Follow  the  Sabbath- 
breakers  through  the  day.     Class  them.     Tell   me  who 


OBSERVATION  OF  THE  SABBATH.        183 

they  are.  Count  up  their  actions  during  the  course  of  the 
sacred  hours.  Penetrate  their  secret  chamber.  See  the 
influence  of  their  doings  on  the  subsequent  week.  Society 
totters  under  their  crimes.  Observe  the  families,  the  es- 
tabh'shments  for  merchandize,  the  offices,  the  posts  of  pub- 
lic responsibility  which  they  fill — and  trace  the  crimes,  the 
outrages,  the  neglects,  the  falsehoods,  the  subterfuges,  the 
nefarious  and  dark  designs  which  the  profanation  of  the 
Lord's  day  has  engendered  or  matured — Yes,  you  have 
VICE  in  all  its  forms  and  enormities,  in  the  one  sin  of 
Sabbath-breaking. 

But  the  consideration  is  too  painful.  I  hasten  to  point 
out,  in  the  last  place, 

V.  That  the  observation  of  the  Sabbath  immediately 
HONORS  Almighty  God,  and  brings  his  favor  and 
BLESSING  upon  a  people;  whilst  the  profanation  of  it  pro- 
vokes his  highest  displeasure. 

For  the  Sabbath  is  God's  day;  it  is  the  Lord's  tribute; 
it  is  the  acknowledgment  which  he  requires  for  all  his  bless- 
ings, temporal  and  spiritual;  it  is  the  mark  of  regard  and 
reverence  which  he  demands  from  man.  What,  then,  can 
so  immediately  touch  his  honor  as  the  wilful  profanation  of 
this  institution  ?  It  precisely  demonstrates  man's  contempt 
and  ingratitude,  his  pride  and  secularity,  his  secret  enmity 
against  the  government,  and  dislike  of  the  worship  of  his 
God. 

The  easier  the  observance  of  it  is,  the  more  grievous  in- 
sult to  the  majesty  of  heaven  is  its  violation.  The  greater 
the  benefit  which  it  is  calculated  to  confer  upon  man,  both 
in  body  and  soul,  the  more  perverse  and  unreasonable  is  his 
disobedience. 

The  clearer,  again,  the  light  of  that  dispensation  of  the 
gospel  under  which  he  lives,  the  deeper  becomes  that  moral 
criminality  which  the  sin  against  so  much  light  brings 
with  it.  The  more  free  from  false  doctrines  our  creed 
and  the  more  favorable  our  position  for  a  distinct  view  of 
our  duty,  the  higher  presumption  is  involved  in  our  neglect 
of  it. 

It  is  not  possible  for  the  mind  of  man  to  measure  the  di- 
mensions of  that  guilt,  which  the  deliberate  profanation  of 
the  Lord's  day  under  the  gospel  dispensation,  in  a  free  prot- 
estant  country,  involves. 


184  IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    RIGHT 

To  admit  the  truth  of  a  divine  revelation,  and  then  re- 
ject the  first  and  most  remarkable  feature  which  distin- 
guishes that  religion  from  every  other — the  only  institution 
which  includes  all  the  worship,  all  the  adoration,  all  the 
prayer,  all  the  spiritual  duties  of  that  religion — is  an  in- 
consistency in  itself,  as  well  as  an  affront  put  upon  our  Al- 
mighty benefactor,  which  no  words  can  adequately  express. 
And  this,  when  our  country  acknowledges  a  Sabbath,  when 
the  laws  protect  us  in  some  measure  in  the  observation  of 
it,  when  the  habits  and  usages  of  commerce  are  suspended, 
when  some  ingenuity  must  be  employed  and  some  force  done 
to  our  feelings,  and  some  loss  of  reputation  hazarded,  in 
violating  the  command! 

A  command  which,  were  there  no  religious  obligation, 
man  would  be  glad  enough  to  fulfil — which,  if  he  could 
choose  it  for  himself,  and  employ  it  to  his  own  ends,  and 
separate  it  from  the  authority  of  the  Almighty,  he  would 
rejoice  to  celebrate — which  his  bodily  powers  demand, 
which  his  fatigue  persuades,  which  his  satiety  with  the  uni- 
formity of  worldly  pursuits  invites,* — but  which,  because 
God  requires  it,  because  religion  fixes  her  eye  upon  it,  be- 
cause his  highest  spiritual  duties  concur  with  his  temporal 
interest  in  enjoining  it,  he  spurns  and  contemns;  thus  dem- 
onstrating the  bitter  root  of  enmity  against  God,  from 
which  his  rebellion  springs. 

And  yet  men  in  Christian  countries  expect  God  to  bless 
them;  they  affect  to  be  his  worshippers,  they  call  themselves 
by  his  name,  they  profess  a  general  reliance  upon  his  prov- 
idence, they  allow  that  the  affairs  of  empires,  nations,  fam- 
ilies, individuals,  only  prosper  by  his  favor  and  mercy.  But 
how  can  they  reasonably  look  for  this  favor  and  this  mercy, 
if  tliey  profane  the  day  which  is  the  seal  and  pledge  of  both? 
Can  a  people  thus  insulting  God  in  the  institution  which 
must  immediately  affect  his  honor,  really  believe  that  he 
will  bless  and  prosper  them?  No,  my  brethren;  let  us  first 
reverence  his  name,  let  us  first  "turn  away  our  foot"  from 

*  During-  the  excesses  of  the  French  Revolution,  at  the  close  of  the  last 
century,  Christianity  and  its  Sabbath  were  abolished — but  the  mere  ne- 
cessities of  man's  nature  compelled  that  infidel  and  atheistic  government 
to  institute  a  day  of  rest  of  their  own,  what  they  called  a  decade,  occur- 
ring every  tenth  day.  A  confession  this  of  the  reasonableness  of  the  di-. 
vine  command! 


OBSERVATION  OF  THE  SABBATH.        185 

trampling  upon  his  holy  day,  let  us  first  put  away  from  us  ''the 
accursed  thing-,"  which,  like  Achan,  infects  our  camp;  and 
then,  and  not  before,  may  we  hope  for  the  abiding  goodness 
of  God  to  repose  upon  us,  and  for  the  Lord  to  delight  him- 
self in  us. 

But  what  are  the  excuses  which  men  assign  for  the  des- 
ecration of  the  Sabbath — a  sin  against  which  such  mighty 
reasons  lie,  and  the  guilt  of  which  is  of  so  aggravated  a 
hue?  Let  us,  in  conclusion,  strengthen  our  argument  by 
exposing  the  weakness  of  the  opposing  excuses:  let  us  then 
resolve  on  no  half  measures,  but  to  enter  without  delay 
on  the  full  performance  of  our  duty;  let  us  lastly  notice, 
the  additional  bonds  we  are  under  to  consecrate  the 
Sabbath,  from  the  immense  honor  which  God  has  put 
upon  it  by  the  blessings  af  his  grace  and  providence  in 
every  age. 

I.  For  what  are  the  excuses  which  men  allege  in 
extenuation  of  the  neglect  of  the  day  of  God  ? 

1.  Do  they  say  that  "every  day  under  the  gospel  is  to 
be  kept  holy".''  They  say  truly;  but  each  in  its  own  man- 
ner. The  working  day  is  kept  holy,  as  we  have  already 
shown,  by  performing  diligently  the  duties  of  our  callings, 
and  interweaving  religious  feelings  and  exercises  therein; 
the  Sabbath,  by  celebrating  devoutly  the  express  worship 
of  God.  The  six  days,  if  given  up  to  religious  acts,  would 
be  idleness,  superstition,  and  tempting  of  God;  the  seventh, 
if  not  dedicated  to  them,  is  impiety,  pride,  and  contempt  of 
the  Almighty.  Nor  does  he  who  pretends  the  universal 
sanctity  to  which  the  Christian  is  called,  as  a  palliation  of 
Sunday  violations,  ever  serve  God  at  all.  ITf  he  knew  any 
thing  of  that  delightful  employment,  all  his  atfections  would 
centre  on  that  privileged  day  which  God  has  given  him  for 
communion  with  himself,  and  for  public  and  private  acts  of 
solemn  devotion. 

2.  But  you  charge  the  due  observation  of  the  Sabbath 
with  Pharisaical  strictness;  you  say  "the  demand  is  enthu- 
siastic, precise,  puritanical,  intolerable."  But  you  forget 
then  all  the  benignity  of  the  blessed  Savior,  which  swept 
away  the  inventions  of  man,  and  recalled  the  institution 
from  the  austerities  of  the  scribes  to  its  primitive  simplicity; 
and  you  feign  a  severity  which  does  not  exist,  except  you 
consider  piety  as  a  task,  the  love  of  your  Savior  a  yoke, 

*16 


186  IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    RTGHt 

the  praises  of  redemption  gloomy,  the  offices  of  prayer  and 
supplication  a  weariness.  And  this  is  what  you  really 
mean — your  thin  disguises  conceal  not  your  dislike  to  re- 
ligion and  the  name  of  Christ.  We  understand  you.  You 
are  at  home  in  the  world  of  sin  and  folly,  but  religious  re- 
pose is  unwelcome.  You  are  at  ease  in  secular  employs; 
spiritual  are  strange.  You  show  then,  that  all  is  to  begin 
in  the  business  of  your  salvation — enter  heartily  upon  that, 
and  the  Sabbath  will  be  honored  as  it  ought. 

3.  I  make  a  similar  reply  to  the  plea  of  the  excessive 
HURRY  OF  affairs,  of  the  ^'impossibility  of  finding  time 
to  give  a  whole  day  to  religion:  besides,  you  only  violate 
the  Sunday  occasionally,  and  as  you  affirm,  reluctant- 
ly!" The  plain  meaning  of  all  which  is,  that  worldly 
things  are  so  important,  and  eternal  so  trivial,  that  six 
days  are  too  few  for  the  first,  and  one  too  long  for  the  sec- 
ond. The  more  lawful  business  any  Christian  has,  the 
more  is  the  necessity  of  a  thorough  religious  interval  on 
the  Sabbath  increased.  Every  man  must  find  time  to  die, 
and  ought  to  find  time  for  devoting  to  God  that  day 
which  prepares  for  death.  Nor  does  worldly  business 
ever  proceed  so  prosperously,  as  when  subordinated  to  re- 
ligion. 

4.  And  why  should  I  pause  to  refute  the  miserable  ex- 
cuse, "that  you  see  not  that  persons  who  go  so  much  to 
church  are  better  than  others" — which  is  false  in  fact. 
Those  who  attend  the  house  of  God  with  any  sincerity,  are 
better  than  others;  and  those  who  do  not,  yet  are  acquiring 
habits  of  public  reverence  to  the  Almighty,  and  are  kept 
out  of  a  thousand  temptations,  which  the  breaking  of  the 
Sabbath  would  present.  And  if  all  attended  the  worship 
of  God  aright,  all  would  become,  not  better  than  others 
would  then  be,  but  better  than  they  now  are — all  would  be 
true  servants  of  God,  and  heirs  of  heaven. 

5.  You  have  still  pleas  in  reserve — "the  immediate  sac- 
rifice of  your  temporal  interests,  the  rivalry  of  neighbors, 
the  general  example  of  persons  of  your  trade  or  profession, 
THE  NECESSITY  OF  THE  CASE,— unwilHng  as  you  are  to  violate 
the  Sabbath  and  ready  to  agree  to  close  your  shops,  your 
counting-houses,  your  offices,  if  others  would  do  the  same;  the 
inutility  of  one  in  a  circle  acting  without  the  concurrence  of 
all"^-excuses  which  would  overturn  all  morals  and  religion, 


OBSERVATION    OF    THE    SABBATH.  187 

and  make  every  man  a  judge  of  his  measure  of  obedience 
to  God.  If  on  the  ground  of  an  alleged  necessity,  or  of 
waiting  for  the  concert  of  others,  we  may  violate  an  express 
command  of  God,  where  are  we  to  stop?  what  command- 
ment will  retain  its  force?  Why  not  break  the  second  as 
well  as  the  fourth?  Why  not  plead  against  the  sixth  or 
eighth  in  the  same  strain  ?  The  very  foundation  of  Chris- 
tian faith  is  to  obey  God  rather  than  man.  Six  days' 
work  with  the  divine  blessing,  is  infinitely  better  than  seven 
without.  The  excuse  is  cowardice,  the  fear  of  man,  unbe- 
lief. Venture,  and  God  will  bless  you.  You  shall  be  re- 
compensed a  hundred-fold  in  this  life,  and  "in  the  world  to 
come  shall  have  life  everlasting." 

6.  But  I  am  interrupted  by  another  class  of  objectors, 
persons  of  better  education  as  they  consider  themselves,  and 
higher  advantages  of  station  in  society,  who  allege  "that 
public  worship  is  for  the  poor  and  uninstructed — but  that 
for  themselves  they  have  less  need  of  it — they  have 
little  to  learn — it  is  enough  that  they  venerate  the  Deity 
at  home."  Vain  and  miserable  pretexts!  Who  have  so 
much  need  of  the  Sabbath  as  those,  who  from  pride  of  in- 
tellect and  luxurious  indulgences  and  vicious  example,  are 
ordinarily  further  from  God  and  practical  religion  than  any 
other  class?  They  have  little  to  learn!  when  they  prove, 
by  the  very  excuse,  that  they  "know  nothing  yet  as  they 
ought  to  know."  And  is  not  the  Lord's  day  designed  to 
honor  God,  to  acknowledge  his  benefits,  to  celebrate  his 
praises,  to  implore  his  grace,  to  enjoy  communion  of  spirit 
with  him,  to  prepare  for  meeting  him  at  the  throne  of  judg- 
ment? And  are  not  these  obligations  strong  in  proportion 
to  the  divine  benefits  in  providence,  to  our  dangers  and 
temptations,  and  the  influence  which  our  example  might 
have  upon  others?  Yes,  the  rich  and  great  are  most  of  all 
bound  to  the  sanctification  of  the  day  of  God. 

II.  Let  us,  then,  cease  from  such  wretched  pleas,  which 
cannot  deceive  ourselves,  much  less  others,  and  which 
strengthen  the  argument  they  in  vain  attempt  to  evade; 
and  let  us  enter  fully  and  determinately  on  the 
religious  duty  of  honoring  God.  Half  measures  never 
succeed  in  moral  questions,  and  least  of  all  on  the  Sabbath 
where  the  casuist  is  a  man's  own  passions,  and  temptation 


188  IMPORTANCE    OF    THE  RIGHT 

perverts  the  judge  who  has  to  decide.  So  long  as  half 
measures  are  taken,  Satan  and  the  world  push  their  victory 
— the  will  remains  entangled — new  pleas  of  interruption 
are  framed — every  Sunday  the  pressure  of  business  or  the 
solicitations  of  pleasure  are  strengthened — whilst  the  dis- 
position to  serve  God  is  weakened.  Make  at  once  a  bold 
stand,  and  the  duty  will  become  easy.  The  enemy  will 
yield.  Satan  will  be  discomfited.  Your  worldly  compan- 
ions will  cease  to  molest.  You  will  begin  to  find  a  pleas- 
ure in  religion.  God  will  hear  your  prayers.  Conscience 
will  be  at  peace.  The  only  happy  man  in  this  world  is  he 
that  "follows  God  fully." 

III.  Let  the  immense  honor  which  God  on  his 
PART  HAS  BEEN  PLEASED  TO  PUT  UPON  the  Sabbath,  and 
the  blessings  of  his  grace  and  providence  which  he  has 
vouchsafed  on  it,  conclude  the  subject,  and  impress  every 
heart  with  an  additional  conviction  of  the  incalculable  im- 
portance of  a  right  observation  of  the  Lord's  day.  We 
have  alluded  to  this  more  than  once.  And  well  we  may. 
For  what  an  honor  has  God  put  upon  this  institution  through- 
out the  whole  dispensation  of  the  gospel.''  Who  can 
trace  out  its  history!  Who  can  number  the  souls  convert- 
ed, the  graces  of  Christians  quickened,  the  sorrows  of  the 
afflicted  consoled,  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  granted, 
the  assurances  of  the  Savior's  presence  vouchsafed,  the  ser- 
mons and  prayers  and  sacraments  rendered  effectual  ?  Fig- 
ure to  yourselves  what  has  been  transacted  on  all  the  Sab- 
baths throughout  all  the  world,  since  the  promulgation  of 
the  Christian  faith.  You  find  that  almost  all  the  glory  of 
Christianity  has  shone  upon  the  Sabbath.  You  find  that 
God  has  wrought  most  of  his  works  of  grace  upon  the  Sab- 
bath. You  find  that  the  blessed  Savior  has  been  most 
glorified  upon  the  Sabbath.  You  find  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
has  exerted  his  agency  most  upon  the  Sabbath.  What 
confessions  of  sins,  what  enlargements  of  heart,  what  con- 
solations of  prayer,  what  gifts  of  pardon,  what  tokens  of 
acceptance,  what  anticipations  of  heaven!  The  testimony 
of  God  to  his  own  day,  on  any  one  recurrence  of  it,  confirms 
all  our  arguments  for  its  inestimable  value.  Yes,  blessed 
Sabbath,  we  go  forth  to  meet  thee  as  thou  revisitest  man; 
we  hail  thee  as  the  court  day  of  our  Sovereign  and  Lord; 


OBSERVATION  OF  THE  SABBATH.       189 

we  rejoice  in  thy  return  as  the  open  throne  presented 
to  us  for  approaching  our  Heavenly  Father;  we  behold 
thee  as  testifying  of  our  Redeemer's  resurrection — we  hon- 
or thee  as  the  peculiar  province  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  we 
behold  thee  uniting  all  that  can  interest  and  bless  man 
— creation  with  all  its  natural  benefits — redemption  with 
all  its  remedial  grace — heaven  with  all  its  consummating 
glories. 


SERMO:Sf   VII- 


THE  GUILT  WHICH  IS  CONTRACTED  BY  CHRISTIAN 
NATIONS,  IN  PROPORTION  AS  THE  LORD'S  DAY  IS 
OPENLY  PROFANED.* 


Nehemiah  xiii.   17,  18 


TJien  I  contended  tvith  the  nobles  of  Judah,  and  said  unto 
them,  What  evil  is  this  that  ye  do,  and  profane  the  Sab- 
bath-day"? Did  not  your  fathers  thus,  and  did  not  our 
God  bring  all  this  evil  upon  us  and  upon  this  cityl 
Yet  ye  bring  more  wrath  upon  Israel  by  profaning  the 
Sabbath. 

There  remains  yet  another  branch  of  the  subject.  We 
must  appeal  to  the  nation  at  large.  We  must  prefer 
against  it  the  charge  of  public  connivance  at  the  violation 
of  the  Sabbath.  We  must  call  on  every  one,  by  his  faith 
as  a  Christian,  by  the  reverence  he  feels  for  his  Creator 
and  Redeemer,  by  his  love  to  his  country,  by  his  regard  to 
the  happiness  of  his  neighbors  and  family,  by  his  concern 
for  his  own  eternal  salvation,  to  do  all  in  his  power  to 
awaken  the  public  conscience,  and  arouse  it  to  do  its  duty. 
We  must  declare  the  anger  of  the  Lord  for  this  great  na- 
tional sin,  and  solemnly  charge  all  classes  of  men  to  re- 
pent and  turn  unto  the  Lord. 

*  In  order  to  make  this  sermon  fully  applicable  to  our  country,  nothing 
is  necessary  but  an  occasional  change  of  names  and  local  circumstan- 
ces.— Am.  Editor. 


VIOLAa    NG    THE    LORD's    DAY.  191 

It  is  true  the  evil  is  gigantic,  it  spreads  through  all  ordc^rs 
of  persons,  it  fixes  itself  firmly  in  the  corruption  of  the  hu- 
man heart.  It  stands,  as  the  uncircumcised  champion  of 
old,  and  defies  the  armies  of  the  living  God.  But  we  must 
rely,  like  David,  on  another  power  than  that  of  man.  We 
must  take  the  word  of  truth.  We  must  go  forth  with  our 
sling  and  our  stone,  as  it  were,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel,  and  must  humbly  believe  that  the  enormous 
evil,  as  another  Goliath,  shall  fall  before  us. 

Do  thou,  O  Lord  God  Almighty,  be  pleased  to  aid  us 
and  all  thy  servants,  who  at  this  time  are  pleading  thy 
righteous  cause!  Do  thou  enable  us  so  to  imitate  thy  holy 
servant  Nehemiah  of  old,  that  we  may  set  forth  thy  truth  in 
all  simplicity  and  fervor,  that  we  may  not  fear  the  face  of 
man,  and  that,  accompanied  and  aided  by  thine  effectual 
grace,  we  may  witness  a  revival  of  the  observation  of  thy 
holy  day,  and  of  the  religious  blessings  which  attend  it,  in 
our  own  land  and  throughout  all  the  nations  of  Christen- 
dom! 

First,  then,  we  must  substantiate  the  charge,  that  our 
nation  is  guilty  in  conniving  at  the  violation  of  the  Lord's 
day. 

We  must  next  show  the  divine  judgments  that  may  be 
justly  dreaded  in  consequence. 

We  must  lastly  point  out  the  practical  measures  which 
each  one  may  take  towards  a  national  repentance  and 
return  to  God. 

I.       In    SUBSTANTIATING    THE    CHARGE    ITSELF     against 

the  British  nation,  we  are  aware  of  the  caution  necessary. 
Having  now  no  inspired  prophets  or  apostles  to  apply  au- 
thoritatively the  language  of  Scripture,  we  can  only  form 
the  best  judgment  we  are  able,  from  its  evident  scope,  and 
the  similar  bearing  of  our  privileges  on  the  one  hand,  and 
of  our  conduct  on  the  other.  We  must  avoid  all  presump- 
tion, haste,  self-confidence,  personality.  We  must  proceed 
on  the  general  and  undoubted  grounds  of  revealed  truth,  as 
applicable  to  nations  and  individuals;  and  only  claim  atten- 
tion as  we  are  evidently  supported  by  that  truth,  and  the 
plain  facts  of  the  case. 

What,  then,  constitutes,  in  a  scriptural  sense,  national 
guilt  .^  Is  it  not  the  prevalence  of  any  open,  flagrant  viola- 
tion of  the  law  of  God,  committed  by  large  classes  of  men? 


192  NATIONAL    GUILT    OF 

Is  it  not  the  continued  invention  of  new  modes  of  commit- 
ting it,  and  additions  to  the  numbers  amongst  whom  it 
spreads?  Is  it  not  the  countenance  which  the  example  of 
the  nobles  and  princes  of  the  land  give  to  it?  Is  it  not 
the  connivance  at  those  enormities  by  legislators,  ministers 
of  state,  magistrates,  clergy?  Is  it  not  the  general  cold- 
ness and  indifference,  and  even  scorn,  with  which  measures 
of  prevention  or  of  remedy  are  received? 

And  does  not  the  violation  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  in 
this  country  comprehend  every  one  of  these  particulars  ? 

1.  Does  it  not  prevail  amongst  large  classes  of 
MEN?  If  the  divine  authority  of  that  day  be  what  we 
have  shown;  if  the  right  manner  of  observing  it  be  as  we 
have  described  it;  if  the  immense  importance  of  a  due  sanc- 
tification  of  it  be  commensurate  with  Christianity  itself; 
then  what  is  the  national  guilt  accumulated  every  day 
amongst  us?  Go  through  the  different  orders  of  society  in 
our  country,  and,  after  making  every  allowance  of  the 
kindliest  charity,  estimate  the  sins  committed  every  Sab- 
bath as  it  returns,  by  each  class  before  the  face  of  the 
Almighty. 

Begin  with  the  humbler  orders — the  artizans,  the 
laborers,  the  agricultural  workmen,  the  smaller  trades-peo- 
ple. How  widely  is  Sabbath-breaking  diffused!  Accounts 
settled,  shops  opened,  markets  frequented,  workmen  paid, 
business  transacted, — calmly,  systematically,  almost  avow- 
edly. 

Consider  the  numbers  engaged  in  furnishing  entertain- 
ment to  the  violators  of  the  Lord's  day,  as  well  as  the  vio- 
lators themselves.  The  hotels,  the  inns,  the  tea-gardens, 
the  public  houses,  the  shops  and  stalls  for  fruit  and  confec- 
tionary, the  domestics  and  waiters  occupied,  beyond  any 
plea  of  necessity,  or  any  permission  of  the  law. 

Look  at  the  environs  of  London  generally — the  thous- 
ands poured  out  every  Sunday  into  the  fields  and  villages, 
for  idleness,  for  pastimes,  for  intoxication,  in  open  profana- 
tion of  the  Sabbath.  Enter  the  unnumbered  abodes  for 
retailing  spirituous  liquors;  see  the  formerly  decent  ale- 
houses converted  into  spirit-shops,  with  doors  ever  open  to 
attract  the  careless  youth. 

I  admit  that  these  evils  are  not  universal  amongst  the 
poor — I  admit  that  very  many  are  still  under  the  influence 


193 

of  religion,  and  I  bless  God  for  it — but  how  few  are  there, 
compared  with  our  increasing  population!  How  vast  the 
number  who  never  regularly  attend  the  worship  of  God! 
How  lamentable  the  state  of  our  crowded  cities! 

Next  examine  the  middle  classes  of  our  nation.  How 
do  multitudes  of  the  tradesmen,  the  merchants,  the  sol- 
diers, the  lawyers,  the  physicians  and  medical  practition- 
ers, the  private  gentlemen,  the  retired  merchants  and  tra- 
ders, spend  the  Lord's  day?  After  a  reluctant  attendance 
in  the  house  of  God,  where  are  they,  and  what  are  they 
engaged  in  for  the  remainder  of  the  Sabbath? — I  mean, 
what  are  too  many  of  them  engaged  in;  I  am  speaking  of 
large  numbers  in  each  class,  not  of  every  individual — there 
is  still  a  goodly  remnant  that  serve  and  fear  God.  But  as 
to  the  great  mass,  is  it  not  the  day  of  indulgence,  the  day 
of  banqueting,  the  day  of  pleasurable  parties  as  they  are 
termed?  What  are  the  servants  of  the  household  occu- 
pied about?  Is  it  not  in  preparing  entertainments?  Is 
not  their  labor  tenfold  that  which  the  necessity  of  the  Sab- 
bath demands,  or  its  repose  allows? 

You  ascend  to  the  gentry  and  nobility  of  our  land. 
These  have,  alas,  too  generally  "broken  the  yoke  and  burst 
the  bonds."  The  law  of  the  Sabbath  is  void  to  them. 
The  day  is  the  same  as  other  days  except  as  increased 
festivity  dishonors  and  abuses  it — the  same  irreligion,  the 
same  pride,  the  same  neglect  of  God.  In  too  many  cases, 
large  festivals  are  given,  crowded  parties  assembled,  an 
open  infraction  of  decency  committed.  How  many  are 
there  in  public  stations,  where  example  is  most  widely  dif- 
fused, who  have  regular  Sunday  dinners  during  a  certain 
portion  of  the  year!  I  ask  if  the  aggregation  of  these 
enormities  do  not  outstrip  mere  personal  criminality,  and 
form  a  distinct  branch  of  national  guilt? 

2.  Then  consider  the  continual  invention  of  new 
MODES  OF  SABBATH  VIOLATION  and  of  additional  tempta- 
tions extended  to  new  classes  of  persons.  This  marks  na- 
tional guilt.  The  evil  is  on  the  increase.  The  Sunday 
Newspaper  is  of  late  invention:  a  few  years  since  it  was 
almost  unknown — now  it  enlarges  its  fatal  snares  every 
year.  Forty  thousand  copies  are  said  to  be  circulated 
every  Sabbath.  Not  content  with  leaving  it  in  the  hands 
of  the  open  infidel  and  enemy  of  civil  and  religious  order,  it 

n 


194  -       National  guilt  of 

has  been  seized  by  some  of  the  avowed  and  clamorous  friends 
of  church  and  state,  and  made  a  channel  of  private  calumny 
and  public  ridicule  of  all  eminent  virtue  and  piety.  Sunday 
Stages  are  a  second  invention  of  a  novel  kind.  They 
were  some  years  back  uniformly  suspended  on  the  Lord's 
day,  that  ''our  cattle  and  our  servants  might  rest  as  well 
as  we;"  now  they  openly  violate  the  decencies  of  public 
worship — they  pass  our  churches  during  divine  service — 
they  detain  the  inn-keeper  from  the  house  of  God — they 
tempt  our  people  to  venture  on  Sunday  journeys.  Vessels 
OF  PLEASURE  impelled  by  steam,  have  just  been  added  to 
the  inventions  of  the  Sabbath-breaker,  and  thousands  are 
conveyed  on  the  Lord's  day,  during  the  months  of  summer, 
to  the  various  spots  on  our  coast,  where  pleasure  and  dis- 
sipation may  drown  conscience  and  the  remains  of  a  pious 
education.  Commercial  speculations  for  more  expedi- 
tious travelling,  by  means  of  the  same  process,  are 
also  calculated  upon  the  supposition  of  regularly  and  sys- 
tematically profaning  and  tempting  others  to  profane  the 
Sabbath.  Our  houses  of  commerce,  again,  have  been 
deserted  of  late  years  on  the  Lord's  day  by  their  masters, 
and  are  left  to  the  discretion  of  clerks  and  shopmen,  to  vio- 
late the  Sabbath  without  restraint  or  control. 

New  classes  of  our  people  are  thus  pushed  into  the  fatal 
vortex  of  Sunday  dissipation.  Each  humbler  order  imitates 
the  vices  of  the  rank  immediately  above  it.  The  example 
infects  the  very  remotest  classes.  All  are  learning  by  de- 
grees to  encroach  upon  the  sanctity  of  the  holy  day  of  God. 
''Hand  joins  in  hand."  One  encourages  another.  Relig- 
ious repose  and  rest  m  God  as  a  distinct  duty  of  Chris- 
tians, is  more  and  more  discredited;  and  the  false  notion 
that  the  Sabbath  was  ordained  for  what  is  termed  innocent 
amusement,  as  well  as  for  the  worship  of  Almighty  God,  is 
more  and  more  avowed. 

3.  Then  inquire  we  next  into  the  countenance  which 
the  nobles  and  princess  of  our  land  give  to  this  Sunday- 
violation.  Much  of  the  character  of  national  sins  arises 
from  the  conduct  of  the  great,  from  the  open  avowal  or  dis- 
avowal of  God,  which  they  are  found  upon  the  whole  to 
make.  I  ask,  then, — with  grief  and  shame  I  ask, — does 
not  the  prevalent  example  of  the  great  go  to  encourage,  to 
create,  to  render  necessary  in  large   circles  of  dependants, 


195 

the  open  breach  of  the  day  of  God?    Do  not  they  often 
profess  that  public  worship  is  chiefly  needful  to  restrain  the 
common  people  ?     Do  not  they  avow,  that  religion  is  little 
more  than  a  state-engine  ?  Does  not  their  too  general  conduct 
authorize  and  embolden  the  neglect  of  the  Lord's  day,  the 
omission  of  public  worship,  the  frivolous   engagements  of 
the  after  division  of  the  Sabbath,  the  enormous   evils  of 
Sunday  dinners,  Sunday  visits,  Sunday  music-parties,  Sun- 
day diversions?     Do  we  not  read  on  every  Monday,  the 
catalogue   of  the  festivals,  conversaziones,   assemblies  for 
music — sacred  music,  as  it  is  profanely  termed — which  dese- 
crated the  preceding  day?     And  do  not  these  evils  begin 
with  those  of  the  highest  rank — with  nobles,  ministers  of 
state,  princes?     And  does  not  the  eye  of  God  behold  all 
this,  and  mark  the  aggravations  of  its  guilt?     Do  not  the 
gentry  and  nobility  form  a  prominent  and  influential  part  of 
a  nation  in  its  collective  capacity?     Is  not  their  example 
the  standard  by  which  thousands  form  their  notions  of  mor- 
als and  of  Sunday  obligation? 

4.  But  may  we  not,  ought  we  not  to  go  farther  than  .this  ? 
It  is  not  merely  countenance  afforded  by  the  great,  but  it  h 
A  SINFUL  CONNIVANCE  on  the  part  of  legislators,  ministers 
of  state,  magistrates,  clergy,  persons  in  authority,  and  with 
natural  influence  entrusted  to  them,  which  constitutes  the 
real  amount  of  national  crime  on  this  subject.  If  the  gen- 
try, clergy,  and  magistracy,  have  used  such  moral  power 
as  God  and  the  laws  and  usages  of  their  country  have 
committed  to  them,  for  the  honor  of  the  Sabbath — and 
which  power  they  are  employing  daily  on  a  thousand  trifling 
topics  which  interest  them — then  there  is  no  national  guilt 
incurred  in  this  respect.  But  what  is  the  fact?  Let  con- 
science speak.  It  is  to  the  eternal  God  we  appeal,  who  is 
the  searcher  of  every  heart.  Have  not  legislators,  and 
magistrates  both  in  their  private  and  their  collective  capac- 
ity, connived,  and  do  they  not  connive,  at  the  violation  of 
the  holy  law  of  the  Sabbath?  Do  they  not  mock  too,  of- 
ten at  its  divine  authority?  Do  they  not  shrink  from  avow- 
ing their  reverence  for  religion  as  a  spiritual  subjection  of  man 
to  the  obedience  of  his  Maker?  Alas!  it  is  too  well  known, 
that  little  of  their  attention  can  be  obtained  on  these  subjects 
•—that  occasions  are  perpetually  lost  for  diminishing  the 
evils  of  Sabbath-breaking — that  the  miserable  limits  of  the 


196  NATIONAL     GUILT     OF 

three  or  four  hours  of  public  services  are  considered  suffi- 
cient, in  the  framing  of  acts  of  parliament,  for  the  Sab- 
bath; and  all  the  other  hours  are  resigned  without  scruple 
to  the  world  and  folly — that  the  too  frequent  excuse  of 
magistrates  and  individual  members  of  either  House,  is 
that  the  temper  of  the  times  will  not  endure  religious  meas- 
ures to  be  brought  forward.  Thus  the  influence  of  persons 
in  authority  is  on  the  whole  decidedly  unfavorable;  they 
discountenance  spiritual  religion;  they  refuse  to  put  into 
execution  the  laws  actually  in  force,  and  they  decline  pre- 
paring new  ones — they  frown  on  active  individuals  who 
would  call  on  them  to  maintain  the  honor  of  the  day  of 
God.  How  was  the  proposal  of  Sunday  drilling,  for  in- 
stance, during  the  late  war,  welcomed  and  admitted  for  a 
course  of  years;  though  the  voice  of  bold  remonstrance 
afterwards  prevailed  for  its  repeal?  How  were  the  peti- 
tions and  remonstrances  early  made  against  Sunday  news- 
papers, rejected;  and  the  later  ones  scorned  and  con- 
temned? What  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  denial  of 
the  Sunday  to  the  colonial  slave,  and  to  the  atrocious  evils 
of  his  Sunday  market?  How,  again,  do  individual  minis- 
ters of  state,  and  individual  magistrates,  receive  the  ap- 
plications made  for  the  suppression  of  Sabbath-breaking! 
What  encouragement  does  the  conscientious  clergyman,  or 
minister,  or  parochial  officer,  receive  from  the  magistrates, 
in  liis  attempts  to  check  the  evil  ?  Where  is  there  the  in- 
dividual in  either  chamber  of  parliament,  now  ready  to  take 
up  the  question  concerning  the  law  of  the  Sabbath,  reduce  the 
existing  statutes  to  a  consistent  code,  and  strengthen  them 
with  such  new  enactments  as  the  change  of  circumstances, 
since  the  time  of  the   second  Charles,  may  require? 

5.  And  next  allow  me,  as  a  minister  of  religion,  to  join 
in  the  confession  of  the  share  which  I,  together  with  my 
brethren,  have  borne  in  the  guilt  which  we  are  now  consid- 
ering. Too  many  of  us,  the  clergy,  have  not  sufficiently 
enforced  the  duty  of  the  observation  of  the  Sabbath:  we 
have  not  expounded  the  doctrine — we  have  not  urged  the 
authority — we  have  not  protested  as  we  should  against  the 
violation — we  have  not  sustained  by  a  firm  example,  the 
honor  of  this  holy  and  most  ancient  of  institutions — we 
have  been  cowardly,  tame,  silent,  indifferent.  Some  of 
us  have  connived  sinfully  at  the  enormous  mischief— have 


197 

shrunk  from  measures  of  energy  and  courage — have  rather 
*^folIowed  the  multitude  to  do  evil,"  than  struggled  man- 
fully, and  at  all  hazards,  against  the  current. 

The  religious  public  also — who  reverence  and  observe  to 
a  certain  extent  the  Sabbath — have  shared  and  are  shar- 
ing the  guilt.  They  listen  to  objections.  They  read  the 
works  which  plausibly  sap  the  divine  obligations  of  the 
Lord's  day.  Their  minds  are  poisoned.  They  lose  that 
firm  standing  on  which  they  formerly  planted  their  feet. 
Their  family  habits  are  unfavorable.  Their  own  example 
is  in  some  things  dubious.  The  estimate  which  their  chil- 
dren and  house-holds  form  of  the  Sabbath,  low.  They  do 
not  contend  boldly,  in  public  and  private,  against  the  sin  of 
dishonoring  the  day,  as  their  fathers  did.  Compare  the 
last  generation  of  evangelical  and  pious  Christian  house- 
holds with  the  present — the  decay  is  manifest — that  is,  the 
national  guilt  is  augmented. 

6.  For  in  truth  it  amounts  to  this — let  God  be  judge — 

THERE  IS  A  TOO   GENERAL  INDIFFERENCE,  COLDNESS, 

AND  EVEN  SCORN,  amongst  large   numbers,  to  the   sancti- 
fication  of  the  Lord's   day,  and  to  remedial  measures  for 
retaining    its    honorable    observance — which    stamps   the 
broad  mark  of  public   connivance   on  the   sin   of  Sabbath- 
breaking.     Thank  God,  we  are  not  so  deeply  sunk  in  this 
evil,   as   many  of  the  continential   nations — Thank   God, 
much  honor  is  still   put  upon  the   holy  appointment — -thank 
God,  a  remnant  of  devoted  Christians  continues  to  hallow  it 
aright;  thank  God,  "a  pillar  is  raised,  as  it  were,  on  the  bor- 
der of  the  land  unto  the  Lord."    Thank  God  our  iniquities, 
as  we  trust  are  not  yet  full«5  and  a  revival  of  deep  concern 
for  religion,  and  for  the  davy  of  religion,  is,  as  we  hope,  go- 
ing on.     But  we  must  sjtill  look  the  facts  full  in  the  face. 
Our  real  repentance   £^nd  reformation  will  depend  on  our 
conviction    of    our    actual   delinquency.      Have  we,  then, 
or   have  we  not,  as  a   people,  including  the  classes  pro- 
fessing the  peculiar  grace   of   Christ,  departed  from  the 
Lord,    in    conniving    and    sitting     calmly    by,    when    his 
name  was  polluted    and  the   Sabbath  profaned.'*     Is   not 
a    portion    of    the    indifference    and    scorn    poured    upon 
this  institution  chargeable  upon  us — us  the  ministers  of  re- 
ligion— us  the  people  of  God?     Would  the  names  of  re- 
proach cast  upon  the  religious  observation  of  the  day  and 
*17 


198  NATIONAL   GUILT    OF 

upon  those  who  sustain  it,  be  so  keen,  so  approbrious,  so 
extended,  if  the  standard  of  general  sentiment  had  been 
nearer  that  of  the  Scriptures  ? 

Yes,  brethren,  as  the  various  classes  in  the  Jewish  na- 
tion at  the  time  of  Nehemiah,  had  departed  from  their 
God,  and  had  joined  in  polluting  the  Sabbath;  so  have  too 
many  in  all  classes,  in  our  own  country,  departed  from  their 
Savior,  and  united,  unconsciously  in  some  cases  and  imper- 
ceptibly, in  conniving  at  the  violation  of  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath. 

It  is  time  for  us  to  return  to  the  Lord.  Steps  have 
been  lately  taken  by  persons  high  in  authority,  which  en- 
courage hope  of  improvement.    Let  us,  then,  in  order  to  this, 

IL  Consider  the  national  judgments  which  we 
may  too  certainly  dread,  if  we  repent  not. 

For  nations  rise  and  fall.  A  retributive  justice  is  going 
through  the  world.  No  nation,  however  powerful,  however 
wise,  however  free,  however  prosperous,  can  resist  the  di- 
vine arm.  Where  is  the  empire  of  the  Babylonians,  of  the 
Medo-Persians,  of  the  Grecians,  of  the  Romans.'*  Where 
is  the  power  and  grandeur  of  Alexander,  Caesar,  Charle- 
magne! Look  over  the  map  of  Europe  during  the  last  half 
century:  what  nations  have  not  been  overthrown,  shaken 
to  their  centre,  visited  with  the  most  frightful  calamities? 
Except  our  favored  country,  there  was  hardly  another  which 
escaped  the  actual  sword  of  war.  And  in  our  own  previ- 
ous annals,  what  scenes  of  bloodshed,  what  overthrows  of 
royal  houses,  what  civil  contests,  what  changes  do  not  ap- 
pear! 

I  open  the  Bible  and  I  see  that  this  fall  of  empires  is 
connected  with  the  guilt  of  the  difterent  nations,  and  es- 
pecially of  those  which  were  the  most  eminently  privileged. 
^'You  only  have  I  known  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
therefore  will  I  punish  you  for  your  iniquity;"*  such  is  the 
Jivine  rule  of  proceeding.  ''For  judgment  must  begin  at 
the  house  of  God,  and  if  it  first  begins  with  us,  what  shall 
the  end  be  of  them  that  obey  not  the  gospel  of  God.^"t 
There  is  the  spot  where  judgments  first  alight.  ''But  in 
the  fourth  generation  they  shall  come  again,  for  the  iniquity 
of  the  Amorite  is  not  yet  full;"J  the  measure  is  rising — 

*  Amos  iii.  2.  f  I  Pet.  iv.  17.  t  Gen.  xv.  16. 


199 

the  augmented  mass  is  noted  by  the  divine  eje — iniquity- 
according   to  the  prophetic  vision,    is  seated  within  the 
ephah;  the  vessel  fills;  it  is  accomplished;  the  talent  of 
lead  is  sealed  upon  its  mouth,  and  it  is  transported  from 
its  place  to  the  scene  of  visitation.* 

Do  I  want  specific  examples?  I  look  to  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah and  the  cities  of  the  plain,  "suffering  the  vengeance 
of  eternal  fire."t  I  behold  the  old  world  "filled  with  vio- 
lence and  having  corrupted  its  ways,  till  the  flood  came 
and  destroyed  them  all. "J  I  look  on  the  nations  of  Ca- 
naan, "that  are  sinners  before  the  Lord  exceedingly,  and 
the  land  cannot  contain  them."§ 

But  mark,  above  all,  the  history  of  the  favored  people 
— the  inheritance,  the  peculiar  treasure  of  the  Lord,  the 
kingdom  of  priests.  And  what  is  that  history.?  The  As- 
syrian king  is  sent  against  them  when  hypocritical  and  de- 
generate— "he  meaneth  not  so,  neither  doth  his  heart  think 
so" — but  he  is  "the  axe"  in  the  hand  of  the  divine  work- 
man, to  execute  his  holy  will  against  the  guilty  people. 
And  what  was  the  captivity  and  dispersion  of  the  ten 
tribes,  and  what  the  seventy  years'  bondage  of  the  two  in 
Babylon,  but  punishments  for  national  guilt? 

And  why  should  England  presume?  Why  should  her 
capital,  her  commerce,  her  armies,  her  fleets,  her  power 
and  influence,  elate  her  with  pride?  What  are  all  these 
but  talents  entrusted  to  her  for  certain  ends  ?  What  is  the 
weight  of  responsibility  which  presses  upon  her  in  conse- 
quence? What  is  the  aggravation  which  all  these  bless- 
ings add  to  her  sins  against  God  ?  For  wherefore  has  God 
given  her  these  distinctions,  but  that  she  may  difluse  the 
divine  glory,  exhibit  the  conduct  of  a  righteous  nation,  up- 
hold the  honor  of  pure  Christianity,  vindicate  the  majesty 
of  the  Lord's  day,  educate  her  population  in  sound  religion, 
and  propagate  the  gospel  at  home  and  abroad?  If  she 
neglect  all  these  high  ends  and  be  filled  with  vanity  and 
contempt  of  God,  what  judgment  may  she  not  expect? 
What  is  she  more  than  Nineveh,  Tyre,  Babylon?  Her 
naval  power  is  perhaps  not  greater,  in  proportion  to  the 
existing  state  of  the  world,  her  commerce  is  not  more  ex- 
tended, her  riches  are   not  more  abundant,  her  prosperity 

*  Zechariah  v.  6—11.  t  Jude7. 

t  Gen.  vi.  12.  §  Numb.  xxxv.  33. 


200  NATIONAL    GUILT    OF 

is  not  more  elevated,  than  the  ships,  and  commerce,  and 
glory,  and  prosperity  of  Tyre  were  in  her  day  ? 

Consider,  then,  the  judgment  which  England  may  rea- 
sonably dread,  in  prop@rtion  to  the  duty  which  she  violates 
— in  proportion  to  her  knowledge  of  the  Bible — in  propor- 
tion to  her  pure  Protestant  form  of  Christianity — in  propor- 
tion to  the  strength  of  the  arguments  on  which  the  divine 
authority  and  perpetual  obligation  of  the  Lord's  day  re- 
pose— in  proportion  to  her  means  of  estimating  these  ar- 
guments, and  detecting  the  contrary  error.  Reflect  how 
every  such  consideration  should  aggravate  the  fear  which 
penetrates  us,  of  the  awful  displeasure  of  God  for  our  pol- 
lution of  the  Sabbath. 

Then  what,  England,  is  thy  guilt  before  thy  God.''  A 
sin  like  this,  against  a  command  so  authoritative,  so  easy 
of  performance,  so  beneficial,  marks  thy  temper  as  a  na- 
tion as  it  respects  God.  The  sins  committed  against  thy 
fellow-creatures  are  of  another  character.  The  duties  of 
property  and  life,  the  duties  concerning  common  truth  and 
honesty,  are    bound  upon  thee  by   thy  immediate  secular 

interests society    cannot    hold  together    for    a    moment 

without  them.  But  the  duties  of  the  Sabbath  are  a  test 
of  the  real  measure  of  thy  faith  and  reverence  towards  Al- 
mighty God.  They  show  how  far  thou  carriest  thy  re- 
ligion into  practice.  They  prove  whether  or  not  thy  ad- 
missions of  the  authority  of  God  are  sincere.  Estimate, 
then,  the  guilt  which  all  thy  Sabbaths,  England,  have  been . 
hea-ping  upon  thine  head.  Estimate  the  contempt,  the  neg- 
lect of  God,  the  declension  of  heart  from  his  fear,  the  har- 
dy and  obstinate  resistance  to  his  will,  the  slight  put  upon 
his  immediate  majes-ty  and  honor,  which  thy  conduct  in- 
volves. The  closing  denunciations  against  the  apocal^^ptic 
churches,  will  be  applicable  to  thee,  if  thou  continuest  to 
imitate  those  declining  bodies.  Fear  the  removal  of  thy 
candlestic,  the  silencing  of  thy  preachers,  the  dispersion  of 
thy  assemblies,  the  obscuring  of  thy  peace,  the  loosening 
of  the  frame  of  society — counsels  bewildered — commerce 
paralysed — union  broken — disorder  and  contention  sown — 
tumult  and  insurrection  bursting  forth — thy  king,  thy  prin- 
ces, thy  nobles  given  up  to  infatuation — thy  enemies  made 
to  triumph — thy  name  and  place  a  proverb  amongst  the  na- 
tions.    Consider,  these  are  but  the  beginning  of  sorrows. 


201 

Where  is  Sardis,  and  Pergamos,  and  Thyatira,  and  Eph- 
esus,  and  Laodicea?  Swept  with  the  besom  of  destruction 
— effaced  from  the  memory  of  the  church — exhibited  as 
monuments  of  divine  indignation.  And  why?  "They  left 
their  first  and  fervent  love;  they  did  not  their  first  works; 
they  had  a  name  to  live,  but  were  dead;  they  were  neither 
cold  nor  hot;  they  defiled  their  garments."  And  what  art 
thou  doing  in  thy  levity,  thy  profanation  of  the  Lord's  day, 
thy  contempt  of  religion,  but  imitating  those  very  sins,  which 
brought  down  these  exterminating  judgments? 

And  how  soon  these  chastisements  may  fall,  God  only 
knows.  We  dive  not  into  his  secret  counsels;  we  venture 
not  to  penetrate  his  purposes.  But  thou  hast  every  reason 
to  fear.  Around  the  profanation  and  contempt  of  the  Sab- 
bath, are  gathered  all  the  accompanying  sins  of  neglect  of 
the  gospel,  self-righteousness,  cruelty  and  inhumanity  to 
the  colonial  slave,  an  infidel  and  sceptical  temper — the 
Bible  contemned,  Christianity  dishonored.  The  violation 
of  God's  day  is  the  symptom,  not  the  disease.  It  is  an 
indication  of  the  inward  pride,  impurity,  vanity,  self-con- 
fidence, provocations  of  the  Almighty,  which  are  filling 
up  the  measure  of  thine  iniquities.  Thou  art  again  warn- 
ed. The  voice  of  mercy  and  of  expostulation  is  lifted  up. 
Listen,  then,  ere  it  be  too  late.  Attend,  ye  princes,  and 
nobles,  and  bishops  and  clergy,  and  magistrates,  and  gen- 
try. Listen,  governors  and  legislators  of  the  land.  Re- 
ceive the  divine  call.  Repentance  is  not  now  too  late. 
Punishments  may  be  averted  or  mitigated.  "The  Lord's 
voice  crieth  in  the  city,  and  the  man  of  wisdom  will  hear 
thy  voice;  know  ye  the  rod,  and  who  hath  appointed  it."* 

And  this  brings  us  to  point  out, 

III.     The   practical    measures,  which  each  one 

MAY  ADOPT,  TO  PROMOTE  A  NATIONAL  REPENTANCE  AND 
RETURN    TO    GOD. 

For  this  is  the  question  after  all.  What  is  to  be  done? 
Whither  are  we  to  direct  our  steps?.  How  can  we  fully 
return  unto  the  Lord  ? — By  inquiring  how  other  nations  ex- 
pressed their  penitence;  how  the  reformations  took  place 
in  the  time  of  Samuel,  and  Hezekiah,  and  Jehoshaphat; 
how   the   revivals  were  effected   under   Augustine  in   the 

*  Micah  vi.  9. 


202  NATIONAL    GUILT   OF 

fourth  century,  Claudius  of  Turin  in  the  ninth,  Peter  Waldo 
in  the  twelfth,  and  Wickliffe  in  the  century  which  follow- 
ed: how  the  glorious  reformation  from  Popery  in  the  six- 
teenth century  was  begun  and  established? — Each  individ- 
ual Christian  reformed  himself:  fervent  prayer  was  offered 
for  the  Holy  Spirit;  bold,  decisive  appeals  were  made  to 
the  consciences  of  the  people;  princes  and  magistrates  were 
led  to  listen  to  the  counsel  of  devoted  and  enlightened  min- 
isters; shame  and  persecution  were  cheerfully  endured  for 
the  cause  of  Christ;  an  unflinching  protest  was  entered 
against  the  sins  which  remained;  humiliation  of  soul  under 
past  transgressions,  and  hope  in  the  divine  mercy  for  future 
deliverance  and  ultimate  triumph,  were  exercised.  Let 
such,  then,  be  our  course  now. 

I.    Let  EACH    ONE    REFORM    HIMSELF,  HIS    FAMILY,  HIS 

OWN  CIRCLE.  This  is  the  first  step.  Here  we  are  sure 
our  efforts  will  be  successful:  we  begin  at  home.  The  min- 
isters of  the  sanctuary  should  lead  the  way.  The  holy 
Sabbath  has  much  to  complain  of  in  us.  Reverence  it 
more,  ye  preachers  and  stewards  of  Christ,  sanctify  it 
more.  Study  its  authority  more.  Watch  against  unfavor- 
able habits  more.  Let  your  own  conduct,  and  that  of  your 
families,  give  a  more  decided  testimony  to  the  Lord,  and 
to  his  blessed  day.  Heads  of  families,  begin  each  one  for 
yourselves:  the  Almighty  Redeemer  demands  it  of  you. 
Look  on  your  present  course;  correct,  amend,  what  is 
amiss.  Be  not  ashamed  of  confessing  past  error.  Magis- 
trates, propose  a  better  example;  execute  the  laws  of  which 
you  are  the  guardians.  Awake  to  your  first  duties,  the 
worshipping  and  glorifying  of  your  God.  Merchants,  "buy 
the  truth,  and  sell  it  not;"  close  your  ofiSces  and  counting- 
houses  on  the  Sabbath;  refuse  the  unholy  gain  which  Satan 
offers.  Tradesmen,  farmers,  artizans,  consecrate  your 
labors  to  "the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth."  Servants,  clerks, 
dependents,  honor  the  Savior  on  the  days  which  he  allows 
you  as  the  period  of  rest,  peace,  composure.  Too  long 
have  you  obeyed  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  Satan;  now  God 
calls  you  to  repentance  and  consideration.  Each  individual 
reformation  will  go  to  form  the  national  return  to  duty  which 
we  are  pressing  upon  you.  This  is  the  first  measure.  Let 
every  one  into  whose  hands  these  pages  may  fall,  examine 
and  reform  himself. 


203 

2.  And  let  fervent  prayer  for  the  grace  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  be  offered  up.  God  alone  van  effectually  do  the 
work.  All  doctrine  is  vain,  without  the  operations  of  his 
Spirit.  The  fundamental  truths  of  the  gospel,  the  glorious 
perfections  and  excellencies  of  God,  the  value  of  the  soul, 
the  inestimable  worth  of  redemption,  the  necessity  of  a 
spiritual  and  heartfelt  religion,  of  separation  from  the  world, 
and  communion  with  the  Father  of  spirits^  are  unknown, 
till  the  Spirit  touch  and  quicken  the  heart.  If  we  rely  on 
our  arguments  and  proofs  merely,  we  shall  never  succeed. 
What  are  demonstrations  of  the  authority  and  obligation 
of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  to  him  who  is  dead  in  sin,  care- 
less upon  the  subject  of  his  salvation,  and  wedded  to  his 
worldly  companions.'*  The  heart  of  man  has  reasons  against 
all  persuasions  of  theology;  the  reasons  of  evil  inclination, 
previous  choice,  corrupt  habit,  perverted  associations  of 
thought.  Prayer,  then,  for  the  mercy  of  God,  is  essential 
to  success.  Then  Babel  is  deserted;  then  the  walls  of 
Jericho  fall  flat;  then  Dagon  is  overthrown  before  the  ark; 
then  Babylon  opens  her  gates  of  brass:  then  the  human 
heart  yields  to  truth.  And  when  the  new  and  divine  life 
begins  in  the  soul,  the  Sabbath  becomes  the  natural,  the 
important  privilege  of  the  new-born  Christian.  He  re- 
joices in  the  interval  from  the  duties  of  this  lower  world: 
bis  food,  his  joy,  his  restoration  are  in  the  ordinances  of 
God.  Let  the  gracious  Spirit  be  granted  to  fervent,  united 
prayer,  and  things  will  soon  revive — the  desert  will  burst 
out  with  new  bloom — the  wills  of  men  will  be  swayed — the 
Sabbath  will  re-appear  in  its  mild  dignity — the  young  will 
reverence,  the  old  rejoice  in  the  day  of  God.  The  minis- 
ters of  Christ  will  see  unwonted  audiences  thronging  around 
them — fresh  and  deeper-toned  devotion  will  preside.  Na- 
tional penitence  for  misused  Sabbaths  will  appear  in  the 
very  cry  for  mercy  which  will  ascend  to  heaven — and  from 
the  sanctification  of  them  in  future,  every  temporal  and 
spiritual  blessing  will  germinate. 

3.  As  this  proceeds,  and  in  order  to  advance  it,  bold 
AND  DECISIVE  APPEALS  must  be  addressed  to  the  con- 
sciences of  the  people.  The  adversary  must  not  be  allowed 
to  sow  tares  unmolested.  Plain  and  popular  statements, 
adapted  to  the  comprehension  of  the  different  classes  of 
men,  must  be  made — addresses  from   the  pulpit,  from  the 


204  NATIONAL    GUILT    OF 

press — addresses  in  the  form  of  argument,  and  in  the  way 
of  appeal  and  persuasion — short  treatises  must  be  widely 
diffused — the  heart  must  be  touched.  Thus  the  circle  of 
truth  must  be  widened.  The  efforts  of  a  false  and  spurious 
religion  must  be  defeated,  and  God  honored  amongst  the 
people.  A  national  feeling  in  favor  of  the  Lord's  day,  can 
only  be  expected  from  a  revival,  distinct  and  uncompromis- 
ing, of  the  national  conscience.  Each  one  must  use  the 
talents  entrusted  to  him  by  the  great  Householder.  The 
artful  sophistry  which  assails  the  divine  authority  of  the 
Sabbath,  must  be  detected;  the  false  reasonings  exposed. 
Truth  must  be  manifested  and  sustained — not  indeed  with 
affected  eloquence,  not  with  artificial  ornaments  of  speech, 
not  with  an  overstrained  or  scrupulous  pertinacity  of  debate; 
but  in  simplicity,  in  openness  of  heart;  neither  relaxing  the 
spiritual  demands  of  the  Sabbath,  nor  overrating  the  rela- 
tive magnitude  of  this  particular  branch  of  the  public  guilt. 
Thus  will  God  bless  our  nation;  thus  will  the  holy  day  be 
re-established  in  its  authority  and  grace. 

4.  Princes  and  magistrates  will  not  be  long  before 
they  listen  to  the  voice  of  faithful  and  enlightened  ministers. 
Legislators  and  statesmen,  and  nobles,  will  hear  the  voice 
of  truth.  In  the  progress  of  a  general  revival,  this  has 
been  God's  method.  He  has  raised  up  persons  of  author- 
ity, and  guided  their  minds  by  the  wisdom  and  counsels  of 
well-informed  and  devoted  ministers  of  Christ,  in  the  affairs 
relating  to  the  worship  of  God,  and  the  souls  of  men.  In- 
stead of  false  teachers,  corrupt  ecclesiastics,  proud  and 
worldly-minded  priests — men  who  have  domineered,  or 
fawned,  as  their  interests  and  power  permitted;  and,  sur- 
rounding princes  and  magistrates,  have  flattered  them  to 
their  ruin;  God  blesses  his  servants  with  pious  and  simple 
hearted  bishops  and  ministers,  who  understand  the  Scrip- 
tures, who  know  the  value  of  the  Sabbath,  who  distinguish 
the  true  welfare  of  government,  who  discern  and  admit  the 
claims  of  God  upon  princes  and  rulers.  With  such  aids, 
the  secular  magistrates  will  decree  righteous  statutes,  the 
parliament  will  be  swayed  by  sound  religion,  the  measures 
needful  for  protecting  the  worship  of  God,  will  be  taken, 
the  oppression  and  insults  of  the  profane  will  be  redressed, 
the  open  and  national  violation  of  God's  Sabbaths  will  be 
prohibited,  the  decent  and  devout  order  of  a  Christian  land 


205 

will  be  preserved.  These  aids  from  without,  conspiring 
with  the  influence  of  grace  within  the  church,  will  produce 
the  desired  result.  The  nation  will  return  to  the  Lord. 
The  Sabbath  will  be  again  "the  sign  of  God's  covenant, 
that  he  is  the  Lord  that  doth  sanctify  us;"  and  all  other 
Christian  virtues  and  habits  will  follow. 

5.  But  this  cannot  be  expected  to  be  brought  about,  in 
a  world  like  ours,  without  much  of  that  previous  re- 
proach AND  CONTUMELY,  which  have  always  attended 
the  progress  of  a  really  spiritual  reformation.  Nothing 
disturbs  and  offends  the  world  so  much  as  the  Lord's  day 
strongly  urged.  The  leaders  must  be  content  to  receive 
the  treatment  which  their  Lord  and  Savior  received  before 
them.  And  this  deters  the  merely  well-disposed  part  of 
mankind:  they  shrink  from  decisive  steps,  for  fear  of  shame 
and  names  of  contempt.  The  term  Lollard,  at  one  period, 
of  Wickliflite,  Lutheran,  Puritan,  Methodist,  Calvinist,  at 
others,  have  been  a  successful  instrument  in  Satan's  hands, 
of  alarming  the  timid,  and  securing  his  hold  of  the  worldly. 
Against  such  opposition,  (even  if  it  were  to  rise  to  perse- 
cution,) the  Christian  minister  and  hero  must  be  ready  to 
stand.  He  must  disregard  the  honor  of  men,  that  he  may 
obtain  the  favor  of  God:  he  must  be  proof  against  these 
assaults:  he  must  be  willing  to  risk  his  name,  his  charac- 
ter, his  reputation,  for  his  Savior.  The  holy  Sabbath  must 
be  dedicated,  consecrated,  reverenced,  under  whatever  re- 
proaches he  may  have  to  labor,  who  asserts  its  claims.  As 
national  reformation  advances,  these  very  men,  once  cast 
out  and  scorned,  will  become  the  objects  of  veneration,  their 
counsels  be  prized,  and  their  persons  loved  and  esteemed. 

6.  Still  much  will  remain  unredressed,  amidst  the  wrongs 
of  the  Sabbath — at  least,  for  a  considerable  period — many 
great  evils  may  be  expected  to  survive  and  struggle — the 
spiritual  church,  if  it  gain,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  much, 
must  reckon  upon  being  discomfited  in  certain  respects. 
— She  must,  then,    protest    boldly    and   fearlessly 

AGAINST    THE    SINS    WHICH    ARE    PERSISTED    IN.      Nothing 

honors  God  more  than  the  confession  of  his  truth,  which 
his  faithful  servants  make,  when  they  are  unable  to  suc- 
ceed fully  in  their  honest  endeavors.  A  body  of  devoted 
followers  of  Christ,  allowed  to  preach  his  truth  in  the  world, 
and  entering  their  open  protest  against  flagrant  evils,  is  a 
18 


206  NATIONAL    GUILT    OP 

/        token  for  good  in  a  country,  of  the  most  hopeful  character. 

/         God  never  gives  up  a  nation  to  his  desolating  judgments, 

/  when  there  is  a  considerable   number  of  worshippers,  thus 

/  averring  their  allegiance,  and  crying  out  aloud  against  the 

I  dishonor  done  unto  his  name  and  Sabbaths. 

7.    Lastly,  humiliation   for  past  transgressions, 

AND  HOPE  IN  THE  DIVINE  MERCY  FOR  FUTURE  DELIV- 
ERANCE AND  ULTIMATE  TRIUMPH,  are  the  dispositions  of 
heart  which  we  would  most  cultivate.  After  we  have  done 
all,  we  shall  leave  much,  very  much  to  be  humbled  and 
abased  for  before  our  God;  and  our  hope  must  be  reposed, 
not  in  man,  but  in  his  power,  mercy,  and  grace.  The  holy 
Sabbath,  which,  as  a  nation  and  as  individuals,  we  have 
abused  in  times  past,  the  dishonor  we  have  done  to  him  and 
to  God  thereby,  the  loss  to  our  own  souls  which  has  fol- 
lowed, the  injury  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of  others  which 
has  been  occasioned,  the  slight  put  upon  the  blessed  Spirit 
of  grace,  are  topics  of  deep  sorrow  and  penitential  confes- 
sion before  God.  To  humble  ourselves  under  his  awful  ma- 
jesty, to  deprecate  his  wrath,  to  accept  the  punishment  of 
our  iniquity;  this  is  the  way  to  obtain  mercy;  this  will 
bring  back  our  people  as  the  heart  of  one  man,  to  the 
Lord;  this  will  prepare  us  for  all  the  holy  duties  of  our 
Sundays,  and  all  the  communion  with  God  which  they  bring 
with  them. 

Thus  our  hope  will  be  placed  in  the  unmerited  grace  of 
God,  for  deliverance  and  triumph;  we  shall  wait  his  holy 
will;  we  shall  expect  and  look  for  his  powerful  succor,  we 
shall  despair  of  nothing  under  his  mighty  protection;  we 
shall  rejoice  in  the  sanctification  of  his  day,  the  conversion 
of  souls,  the  consolation  and  edification  of  his  faithful  ser- 
vants, the  pledge  and  anticipation  of  heaven. 

Having  now  completed  our  original  design  in  these  ser- 
mons; having  established  the  divine  obligation  of  a  weekly 
Sabbath  in  the  first  four,  and  the  practical  duties  arising 
from  it  in  the  last  three  of  the  series; 

Let  us  in  conclusion  of  the  whole,  remark, 

I.  That  it  is  not  for  the  Sabbath  in  itself  that  we  have 
been  pleading  in  the  course  of  this  work,  but  the  sabbath 
AS  A  MEANS  TO  CERTAIN  ENDS,  as  the  channel  and  con- 
veyance of  the  waters  of  life,  as  the  standing  institution  for 
the  declaration  of  God's  glory,  of  the  Savior's  resurrection, 


207 

the  rest  of  heaven;  as  the  moment  of  calm  granted  for  ra- 
tional and  irrational  creatures  to  breathe  from  toil,  and 
recruit  their  exhausted  powers;  as  the  needful  interval  of 
repose  and  cessation  to  a  feeble  creature  like  man;  as  the 
appointed  period  for  the  instruction  and  salvation  of  souls; 
as  the  most  visible  representation  of  our  faith  in  our  Maker 
and  Benefactor,  and  the  grand  peculiarity  of  revealed  re- 
ligion. 

Let  then  this  thought  ever  be  present  with  us.  It  is  for 
no  inferior  matter  we  have  pleaded;  it  is  for  no  external 
and  formal  point;  no  ceremony;  no  superstition — we  teach 
not  that  "man  was  made  for  the  Sabbath" — we  should 
never  be  contented  with  any  observation  of  it  which  was 
merely  decorous,  constrained,  reluctant.  We  plead  for  the 
simplest  and  noblest  institution  of  the  religion  of  the  Bible, 
which  includes  and  embraces  within  its  range  every  other. 
We  plead  for  the  most  important  means  of  grace  and  in- 
struction, which  is  the  platform  upon  which  every  other  is 
erected.  We  plead  for  the  highest  testimony  man  can  bear 
to  the  glory  of  God;  in  which  the  praise  of  creation,  of 
redemption,  of  eternal  happiness  is  united.  We  plead  for 
the  most  merciful  of  all  the  divine  appointments,  which 
suspends  the  struggle  of  nature,  and  bids  all  creation 
repose,  and  refresh  itself  from  its  labor  a;id  toil. 

Let  us  not,  then,  undervalue,  or  misunderstand  the  sub- 
ject we  have  been  treating.  We  have  not  been  drivelling 
about  a  questionable,  an  indifferent,  a  secondary  duty. 
We  have  pleaded  the  cause  of  God,  the  interests  of  man, 
the  peace  of  the  world,  the  instruction  of  the  poor,  the 
knowledge  of  Christ,  the  doctrine  of  salvation,  the  hope  of 
heaven.  We  have  treated  the  greatest  question  in  all  the 
compass  of  practical  theology,  because  it  provides  for  every 
other  duty,  lies  at  the  foundation  of  every  other  duty,  gives 
space  and  time  for  every  other  duty,  derives  the  divine 
blessing  upon  every  other  duty. 

II.  We  have  been  pleading,  in  the  next  place,  for  these 
ends  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  because  of  the  unspeak- 
able VALUE  OF  THE  SOUL  OF  MAN.  For  what  is  the 
gist  of  all  we  have  argued? — that  the  soul  of  man  is  so 
noble,  so  precious,  so  inestimable  in  the  eyes  of  God,  so 
endless  in  its  future  state  of  happiness  or  misery,  that  a 
seventh  portion  of  all  man's  time  is  taken  out  from  ordin- 


208  NATIONAL    GtriLT   OF 

ary  employments  to  be  dedicated  to  this  his  immortal  part. 
Yes,  the  Sabbath  proclaims  the  responsibility  of  man,  the 
unfathomable  and  inexpressible  value  of  his  soul,  the  price 
put  upon  it  by  the  Father  of  spirits,  the  dignity  and  capac- 
ities which  it  possesses.  The  Sabbath  unites  man  with 
spiritual  objects,  connects  him  with  his  invisible  Creator, 
Redeemer,  Friend;  teaches  him  what  he  is,  and  whither 
he  is  going.  It  is  for  the  soul,  then,  that  we  have  been 
pleading,  that  it  may  be  blessed  with  the  salutary  knowl- 
edge of  its  fall  and  its  recovery,  of  its  sin  and  its  remedy, 
of  its  guilt  and  condemnation  in  the  first  Adam,  and  its 
pardon  and  acceptance  in  the  second. 

Let  the  importance  of  our  subject  be  measured  by  this 
standard.  Let  all  the  souls  of  all  the  race  of  men  be 
brought  before  our  view,  and  let  all  the  unutterable  happi- 
ness of  each  of  those  souls  be  weighed  and  balanced;  and 
then  let  the  value  of  that  day  be  estimated,  when  the 
means  of  the  repose,  consolation,  guidance,  illumination, 
pardon,  holiness,  salvation,  of  all  these  immortal  minds  are 
congregated  and  concentrated — when  all  the  love  of  God 
our  heavenly  Father,  all  the  grace  of  God  the  Son,  and  all 
the  operations  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  poured  forth 
and  brought  into  effect.  It  is  this  sublime  thought  which 
elevates  the  topic  we  have  been  considering.  The  violation 
of  the  Sabbath  sinks,  degrades,  materializes,  destroys  the 
soul  of  man;  the  observation  of  it  raises,  honors,  spiritual- 
izes, saves  it.  If  the  Lord's  day  be  annihilated,  religion 
fades  away,  secular  pursuits  bewilder  man,  the  bodily  ap- 
petites prevail,  the  knowledge  of  salvation  is  lost,  the  soul 
wanders  wretched  and  ignorant,  wayward  and  distressed, 
without  a  teacher,  without  a  hope,  without  a  refuge.  The 
holy  day  sheds  its  gentle  rays  upon  the  lost  traveller,  sends 
religion  to  his  succor,  interrupts  the  din  of  false  alarms, 
recals  him  from  the  clamor  of  passion  to  the  soft  voice  of 
conscience,  gives  him  the  knowledge  of  salvation,  satisfies 
all  his  doubts,  soothes  his  distresses,  becomes  his  comforter 
and  guide  to  a  heavenly  and  eternal  rest. 

III.  But  we  have  pleaded,  further,  for  the  Christian 
Sabbath — thus  valuable  from  its  combination  of  means 
bearing  upon  the  welfare   of  the  soul  of  man — because  it 

APPEALS  PLAINLY  AND  FULLY  TO  THE  HUMAN  CON- 
SCIENCE, and  puts  in  its  claims  upon  every  reasonable  and 


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VIOLATING    THE    LORD's    DAY.  209 

accountable  being,  on  the  footing  of  its  own  divine  institu- 
tion and  authority. 

Truth  cannot  be  trifled  with.  Men  may  turn  away  from 
any  statement  of  it.  They  may  cavil.  They  may  object 
to  this  or  that  particular  argument.  They  may  set  up  the 
sophisms  of  controversialists.  But  conscience  cannot  be 
thus  silenced.  The  broad  undeniable  truth  is,  that  a  day 
of  weekly  rest  has  ever  accompanied  revealed  religion  un- 
der every  dispensation  of  it.  A  Sabbath  was  celebrated 
even  before  the  fall.  A  Sabbath  forms  a  part  of  God's 
moral  law.  A  Sabbath  is  insisted  upon  by  the  prophets. 
A  Sabbath  was  observed  by  our  Lord  and  his  apostles.  A 
Sabbath  has  been  kept  in  every  church,  in  every  part  of 
the  world,  in  every  age  since.  To  cavil,  then,  at  minute 
omissions  in  the  history  of  it,  or  petty  difficulties  in  the  de- 
tails of  its  progress,  is  worse  than  folly;  it  is  dishonesty 
to  truth.  Nor  can  we  escape  the  responsibility  which  at- 
taches to  knowledge  proffered  and  sat  before  us.  There 
stands  the  institution.  Great  efforts  have  been  made  to 
impress  its  obligation  upon  the  public  mind.  Discussions, 
sermons,  treatises,  tracts,  have  been  circulated.  Public 
meetings  have  been  convened,  and  resolutions  passed  to 
enforce  the  better  observance  of  the  day.  The  public  con- 
science has  been  aroused.  God  has  given  us  a  call,  a 
special  call  to  repent.  If  we  refuse  the  call,  "if  we  turn 
away  from  him  that  speaketh  from  heaven,"  if  we  "stop 
our  ears,"  if  "we  harden  our  hearts,"  what  can  we  expect 
but  to  be  given  up  to  a  reprobate  mind,  and  left  to  our  own 
folly  and  presumption.'*  With  conscience,  then,  is  the  case 
left — to  this  inward  vicegerent  of  the  Almighty  is  our  ap- 
peal. At  its  tribunal  stands  our  cause  to  be  adjudged. 
Let  every  one,  then,  yield  to  its  sentence.  Let  every  one 
bow  to  the  voice  and  decree  of  this  witness,  judge,  avenger. 
Let  conscience  stimulate  us  to  hallow  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, that  coming  within  the  sphere  of  the  means  of  grace, 
we  may  actually  learn  the  value  of  our  souls,  and  the  way 
of  salvation  for  ourselves. 

But,  lastly,  we  have  pleaded  for  the  Sabbath,  because 
it  is  an  indispensable  preparation  for  the  heavenly 
BLESSEDNESS.  Its  appeal  to  the  human  conscience  termi- 
nates here.  Heaven  or  bell  is  at  stake.  We  all  profess 
to  look  for  a  heavenly  rest.     There  are  few,  perhaps  none, 


210  NATIONAL    GUILT    OF 

who  do  not  desire  and  expect  to  pass  to  a  happy  eternity 
when  they  die.  Their  ideas  of  its  nature  may  be  obscure, 
their  preparations  for  it  may  be  most  defective.  Still  a 
vague  hope  of  it,  as  opposed  to  eternal  misery,  and  under 
the  idea  of  a  state  of  repose  and  felicity,  occupies  most 
minds.  But  let  us  consider  the  strict  connection  which  sub- 
sists between  the  employments  and  delights  of  the  Sabbath 
upon  earth,  and  those  of  that  endless  and  beatific  Sabbath 
which  '^remains  for  the  people  of  God"  at  last.  Do  we 
recollect  the  descriptions  given  in  the  Bible,  of  the  company, 
the  praises,  the  spiritual  and  unceasing  employs  of  that  ex- 
alted place?  Is  it  a  carnal  repose  which  it  offers.''  Is  it 
bodily  indulgence  ?  Is  it  mere  cessation  from  toil  and  sor- 
row? Is  it  not  the  eternal  presence,  the  eternal  enjoyment, 
the  eternal  paises  of  our  God,  and  the  Redeemer?  Open 
the  heavenly  gates.  You  see  the  worshippers.  You  hear 
their  hymns.  What  do  they  chaunt?  The  praises  of  "the 
Lamb  that  was  slain;"  "the  love  of  him  who  died  for 
them;"  the  majesty,  and  wisdom,  and  power,  and  glory,  of 
their  Father  and  Lord.  Ajad  what  is  the  temper  of  mind, 
what  the  habits,  the  notions  of  happiness,  what  the  moral 
condition  which  can  derive  felicity  from  such  an  employ? 
It  is  an  employ  of  continual  holiness,  ceaseless  adoration, 
perpetual  activity  in  the  service  of  God.  The  loose  ideas 
formed  of  heaven,  as  an  exemption  from  suffering  merely, 
as-standing  only  in  opposition  to  fatigue  and  weariness,  as 
bein^  contrasted  with  misery  and  condemnation — are  most 
delusive.  It  is  holiness — it  is  the  love  of  God — it  is  the 
vf  orship  of  the  Lamb  that  was  slain — it  is  the  resting  not 
day  nor  night  in  the  praises  of  the  Almighty — it  is  felicity 
derived  from  the  completion  of  the  divine  faculties  and 
habits  acquired  in  this  world. 

Observe,  then,  the  connection  of  the  Sabbath-duties  here 
on  earth,  with  these  ultimate  and  consummated  duties  of 
the  eternal  Sabbath  above.  The  employments  of  the  day 
here  are  holiness,  the  adoration  of  God  in  Christy  the 
praises  of  creating,  redeeming  love.  The  Sabbath  is  the 
day  of  God,  of  Christ,  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  that  is,  it  is 
the  very  same  in  essence  with  the  heavenly  Sabbath;  has 
the  same  objects,  the  same  joys,  the  same  praises,  the  same 
gratitude,  the  same  sources  of  happiness. 


211 

He  that  would  prepare  for  heaven,  must  honor  the  Sab- 
bath upon  earth.  He  that  would  hope  for  the  spiritual 
joys  there,  must  acquire  a  taste  and  aptitude  for  them  here. 

All  is  connected  in  the  divine  plan.  The  Sabbath  of 
the  church  militant  is  the  pledge  and  foretaste  of  the  Sab- 
bath of  the  church  triumphant.  Were  we  in  heaven  with- 
out a  new  nature,  a  change  of  heart,  a  delight  in  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  an  earnest  longing  after  Christ,  an  acquies- 
cence in  holiness — we  should  neither  derive  happiness  from 
it,  nor  be  capable  of  its  employments.  They  who  argue 
against  our  feeble,  preparatory  Sabbaths;  they  who  object, 
cavil,  contemn;  they  who  prefer  every  other  employment  to 
the  worship  of  God;  they  who  complain  of  weariness  and 
satiety  in  the  services  of  Christ — have  an  evidence  in  their 
own  breasts  of  their  unfitness  for  a  heavenly  world — they 
are  condemned  out  of  their  own  mouths.  The  louder  they 
exclaim  against  our  Lord's  day  and  its  duties,  the  more 
decidedly  do  they  exclude  themselves  from  the  Christian 
character  and  the  Christian  hope. 

Let  us,  then,  awake  to  the  truth  of  the  case.  The  day 
of  Sabbath  made  and  constituted  for  man,  is  essential  to 
all  his  moral  duties  and  hopes — it  seals  his  evidence  for  a 
heavenly  world — it  prepares  him  for  its  joys  and  its  em- 
ployments— it  forms  its  harbinger  and  foretaste. 

The  Sabbath  will,  therefore,  never  cease  till  it  be  ful- 
filled in  the  kingdom  of  God.  As  other  figures  and  em- 
blems terminated  not  till  the  substance  of  them  came;  so 
will  not  this  grand  type  and  foretaste  of  the  ultimate  repose 
of  eternity,  be  determined,  till  earth  gives  place  to  heaven. 

Let  it  again  be  remembered  that  we  disclaim  everything 
harsh,  uncommanded,  ceremonial — we  disclaim  the  Jewish, 
and  much  more  the  Pharisaical  observances — we  say  with 
our  Savior,  "not  man  for  the  Sabbath;"  we  follow  also 
with  delight  the  change  of  the  day  of  celebration,  authorized 
by  "the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath."  But  all  this  only  leaves 
the  grand,  fundamental  principle  more  strong  and  clear. — 
"The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,"  to  give  him  repose  and 
religious  peace,  to  give  him  time  for  the  worship  and  ado- 
ration of  God  on  earth;  to  be  the  solemn  guarantee  and 
type  of  his  last  rest;  and  to  prepare  and  introduce  him  to 
the  joy  and  ceaseless  adorations  of  that  glorious  state. 
The  Sabbath  is  man's  privilege,  interest,  duty.     The  Sab- 


212  NATIONAL    GUILT. 

bath  is  the  glory  of  his  religion,  the  highest  exercise  of  his 
rational  nature,  the  bond  and  link  which  connects  him  with 
all  that  is  spiritual,  all  that  is  holy,  all  that  is  divine  on 
earth;  and  which  then  transmits  him  to  that  exalted  scene 
of  eternal,  and  perfect,  and  uninterrupted  spirituality,  holi- 
ness, and  blessedness  in  heaven,  for  which  he  was  created 
— and  to  which,  may  God  be  pleased  to  bring  the  writer 
and  every  reader  of  these  pages  through  his  infinite  mercy 
in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord! 


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